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Hunter Biden reportedly warned his former friend and business associate Devon Archer that "the powerful are targets" in a March 2019 text.
The House Oversight Committee is investigating President Joe Biden and the allegations that he had knowledge of his son's business dealings, influenced foreign policy and even engaged in a bribery scheme, which the president has repeatedly denied.
On Monday, Archer testified in front of the committee in a closed-door hearing. Archer was co-founder of Hunter Biden's now-dissolved investment firm, Rosemont Seneca Partners (RSP), and previously served on the board of Burisma Holdings, an energy company based in Ukraine, with the younger Biden.
Text messages from March 2019 between the two men revealed a closer look into Hunter Biden's relationship with Archer, Fox News reported.
At that time, Archer questioned Hunter Biden why he and his family didn't interfere when the Department of Justice was investigating Archer for defrauding a Native American tribe in a scheme orchestrated from March 2014 through April 2016.
Archer told him over text that their business partners in Asia were questioning him about why the Biden family didn't try to help him during the DOJ investigation. He posed the same question to Hunter Biden.
Biden responded and assured his friend that there was no connection between his father and the Department of Justice. He went on to say that "you are always vulnerable" to the "overreach" of the federal government when in power.
"The powerful are targets in this country the more powerful they become," Biden said in the text exchange. "But the truth prevails if you have the stamina and guts and enough love to stay the course."
Biden also said that every president's family is "held to a higher standard".
"It's the price of being the most powerful group of people in the world. It's why our democracy remains viable," he said.
Michael McAuliffe, a former federal prosecutor and Florida state attorney, told Newsweek that the texts between Archer and Hunter Biden "have a set-up feel to them."
"Archer appears to be urging Hunter Biden to tie DOJ actions and political influence. Biden doesn't appear to take the bait," McAuliffe said. "If Hunter Biden had offered or even acknowledged a 'Biden' influence as help, that of course would have been used by the House oversight committee as evidence of Biden being compromised. That wouldn't necessarily mean President Biden, but the House committee isn't sweating the details."
Archer was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the Native American tribe in 2018. He was sentenced to one year in prison in February 2022, but the sentence has been postponed amid appeals and delays.
In the days leading up to Archer's congressional testimony, the DOJ pressed trial judge Ronnie Abrams to set a date for Archer to report to prison. Some Republicans alleged that this was a scheme to keep Archer from testifying to Congress, but Archer has rejected these claims.
The extent of what was revealed in Archer's testimony is still unknown, but Representative Dan Goldman, a Democrat from New York, said that while Archer admitted that the younger Biden called his father approximately 20 times over 10 years when in the presence of business associates, the Bidens never discussed business during those calls.
"The witness was very, very consistent, that none of those conversations ever had to do with any business dealings or transactions," Goldman said during a break in the hearing. "They were purely what he called casual conversation."
About the writer
Anna Skinner is a Newsweek senior reporter based in Indianapolis. Her focus is reporting on the climate, environment and weather ... Read more