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Devon Archer, a former Burisma board member, has rejected Republican claims that the Department of Justice wanted to put him, a former business partner of Hunter Biden, in jail before his testimony with the House Oversight Committee on Monday.
Numerous right-wing and MAGA figures made the unsubstantiated claim over the weekend that the DOJ wanted Archer to report to prison over an unrelated fraud conviction to "intimidate" him ahead of his congressional testimony. Archer was convicted over a conspiracy to defraud a Native American tribe in 2018. However, his one-year sentence, handed down in February 2022, has been repeatedly postponed amid appeals and over delays.
On Saturday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York wrote to trial judge Ronnie Abrams and asked her to schedule a date for Archer to report to prison. It comes just days before he was set to testify as part of the GOP-led House Oversight Committee's probe into allegations of corruption involving President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
The timings raised suspicion among Republican lawmakers such as Florida's Matt Gaetz, Georgia's Marjorie Taylor Greene and Louisiana's Mike Johnson. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer also told Fox News on Sunday that the timing of the letter from the DOJ was odd because of Archer's planned testimony. He added that it was an attempt by the Biden legal team to "try to intimidate our witnesses."
The claims that the DOJ were trying to prevent Archer from delivering potentially damning testimony about Biden's business dealings arrive as the GOP continue its investigations into whether Joe Biden used his influence while vice president to intervene and benefit from his son's business dealings in Ukraine and China. These allegations have been denied by both the White House and Hunter Biden's lawyers.
In a statement via his attorney Matthew Schwartz, Archer rejected the claims that the request for him to report to prison was politically motivated or an intimidation tactic to stop him testifying on Monday behind closed doors. Archer's appearance has already been delayed several times.
"We are aware of speculation that the Department of Justice's weekend request to have Mr. Archer report to prison is an attempt by the Biden administration to intimidate him in advance of his meeting with the House Oversight Committee," Schwartz said, via Politico.
"To be clear, Mr. Archer does not agree with that speculation," Schwartz added. "In any case, Mr. Archer will do what he has planned to do all along, which is to show up on Monday and to honestly answer the questions that are put to him by the Congressional investigators."
Newsweek has contacted James Comer's office for comment via email.
In a further letter to District Judge Abrams on Sunday, the DOJ confirmed that a request for a date for Archer to report for prison was not to hinder his testimony to House Republicans on Monday.
"To be clear, the Government does not request (and has never requested) that the defendant surrender before his Congressional testimony. As the Court knows, to surrender and commence his sentence of imprisonment, the defendant first must be designated to a federal facility by the Bureau of Prisons—a process that can take several weeks or months after the Court sets a surrender date," the letter from federal prosecutor Damian Williams read.
"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," the letter added.
Dave Aronberg, a Palm Beach County state attorney, also dismissed the claim that the DOJ letter on Saturday was an intimidation tactic and that such letters were common among federal prosecutors.
"As for the timing, I wouldn't buy the conspiracy theories, because there's no chance that Archer would have to report to prison before his meeting with the congressional committee," Aronberg told Newsweek.
On Monday, Archer is expected to testify to the Oversight Committee that Joe Biden personally spoke to numerous Hunter Biden business associates between 2009 and 2017. This was the period when he was vice president in the Obama administration.
Archer is also said to testify that Hunter Biden put his father on speakerphone during business calls on multiple occasions to intervene in his son's foreign business dealings.
Archer was subpoenaed to testify by the House Select Committee in June, with Rep. Comer saying his testimony is "critical" to its investigation.
Speaking to Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures, Comer added that Archer has an opportunity to be a hero when he testifies on Monday.
"We know that Devon Archer was on the board of Burisma with Hunter Biden. We know that Devon Archer has met and communicated many, many times with Joe Biden about Burisma and other things.
"So, this is going to be an opportunity for Devon Archer just to tell the truth," Comer said.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more