The highly anticipated testimony of a long-time business partner and friend of Hunter Biden, is due to take place today, July 31. Devon Archer will appear before the House Oversight Committee and detail his relationships, his experiences with the Biden family, and presumably shed light on what has historically been a no-go area for Washington, DC. But will this testimony be the smoking gun that House Republicans have hoped for, or will it bury the effort to tie President Biden to his son’s business dealings altogether?
The White House Refrain
Since well before Joe Biden was elected president, he has stated that he “never” discussed his son’s business affairs. Such an adamant denial was, of course, pushing the bounds of believability. Now, however, as pressure mounts from the GOP-led House, the refrain has become that he was not “involved” in Hunter’s dealings.
Rep. James Comer (R-KY) has intimated that the upcoming testimony will likely include Archer saying that Joe Biden would join his son on business calls and that he met with business associates on a number of verifiable occasions. It comes as little surprise that Biden and his White House staff would try to get ahead of this by changing the official tune.
Archer and the DOJ
Devon Archer is a convicted felon about to begin a year-long sentence for his role in defrauding a Native American tribe. The demand that he turn himself over to authorities to begin his sentence was delivered this Saturday in an unusual weekend move by the Department of Justice. As the Washington Examiner reports, “The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York wrote to trial judge Ronnie Abrams on Saturday asking her to schedule a date for Archer to report to prison.”
(Photo via Kris Connor/WireImage)
While such a move is far from unprecedented, questions abound regarding the timing of such a decision. Fortunately for House Republicans – who are relying on Archer’s testimony to bolster their case against Joe Biden – the judge ruled that this action was premature in light of the ongoing appeals.
Speculation is rife that sending Archer to prison right before he is due to testify could be seen as an attempt to intimidate him. In response to the accusation, the DOJ released a letter clarifying its position. US Attorney Damian Williams wrote:
"To be clear, the Government does not request (and has never requested) that the defendant surrender before his Congressional testimony… [The process] can take several weeks or months after the Court sets a surrender date.
"Nonetheless, for the avoidance of all doubt, the Government requests that any surrender date, should the Court order one, be scheduled to occur after the defendant's Congressional testimony is completed."
Life Is Like a Box of Chocolates…
It seems that Republicans have invested heavily in the idea that Devon Archer will provide the smoking gun in their case against the president, but the opposite is just as likely to be true.
Archer has been close friends with the Bidens for many years. Unless Mr. Comer has thoroughly vetted the upcoming testimony, it is entirely possible that the hearing could put a nail in the coffin of this investigation. While Archer might say that Joe did indeed get introduced to potential business associates over the phone, and that he met with prospective clients in social situations, he could also say that this was nothing more than spending time with his son. And more damning for the case, that Joe had nothing whatsoever to do with influencing business decisions.
That the House GOP-led Oversight Committee is willing to hype Archer’s testimony in advance suggests that either it has the goods or is hoping to guide and craft the responses to create just enough ambiguity in the pages of the media.
