CBS News correspondent Catherine Herridge called out Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) on Thursday for misleading reporters about Devon Archer’s closed-door testimony.
After Archer testified on Monday, Goldman told reporters that Archer’s testimony exonerated President Joe Biden from allegations of corruption. In one instance, Goldman claimed that Archer, a former close friend and business associate of Hunter Biden’s, testified that Hunter would sell the “illusion of access” to business partners to close deals.
Goldman said, according to CBS News:
His exact testimony was that Hunter Biden possessed actual experience and contacts in Washington, D.C., in the political sphere, in the lobbying sphere, in the executive branch, and that that is ultimately what he was providing to Burisma.
But in return for pressure from Burisma, he had to give the illusion — he used that term, the illusion — of access to his father, and he tried to get credit for things that he, that Mr. Archer testified Hunter had nothing to do with, such as when Vice President Biden went to Ukraine on his own.
But on Thursday, the transcript of Archer’s testimony was released — and it showed that Goldman, not Archer, used that phrase.
“In fact, when you look at the transcript, what you see is that phrase ‘illusion of access’ is in Dan Goldman’s question,” Herridge reported on CBS. “It’s actually not what Devon Archer testified to.”
The transcript shows that Archer agreed with Goldman that Hunter was, in part, selling the “illusion of access.” But the transcripts also show that Archer nuanced his answer.
When Goldman asked if his characterization was “fair,” Archer told Goldman that it was “almost fair” because “there are touch points and contact points that I can’t deny that happened, but nothing of material was discussed.”
Unfortunately, Archer did not elaborate further on the nature of those “touch points” and “contact points.”
Archer’s testimony has forever changed Biden’s narrative.
For years, Biden claimed he was never involved in his son’s business dealings and insisted he never even discussed business with his son. But Archer’s testimony showed that Biden talked with the business associates themselves. Biden’s defenders, however, insist that any conversation was small talk unrelated to business.
The White House, meanwhile, now insists that Biden “was never in business with his son.”
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