- Hunter Biden’s former business associate, Devon Archer, will be deposed by the House Oversight Committee on Monday.
- Archer, who met Joe Biden on multiple occasions, is in a position to testify about what Joe Biden knew regarding Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings.
- Hunter Biden once called Archer his “best friend in business,” according to National Review.
As Hunter Biden’s former business associate is deposed by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, committee investigators could ask him questions to determine President Joe Biden’s involvement in Hunter’s foreign dealings.
Devon Archer is a former friend and business partner of Hunter Biden — currently the subject of several federal investigations by both Congress and the Department of Justice — and will be deposed by the committee on Monday. In 2022, he was convicted of defrauding the Wakpamni Lake Community Corporation, a Native American tribe, of over $60 million in fraudulent bond issuances.
Archer, who served with Hunter on the board of Burisma Holdings and was described by him as his “best friend in business” according to National Review, is in a position to answer important questions about Joe Biden’s alleged participation and benefits from Hunter’s business dealings in which he used his father’s political influence.
What was discussed by Hunter Biden on calls over speakerphone where Joe Biden was a listener or participant?
Archer will testify about business calls between Hunter Biden and Burisma executives in which Joe Biden was a participant while he was serving as vice president of the United States, according to a report by the New York Post. Archer will tell the committee that he observed such calls over two dozen times, reported the Post.
One of those calls, made in 2015, involved Hunter Biden introducing Burisma’s CEO, Mykola Zlochevsky, and chief financial officer, Vadym Pozharskyi, to Joe Biden. Hunter Biden reportedly said that the executives “need our support,” according to the Post.
Zlochevsky, at the time, was under investigation by the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General on corruption charges, with the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine naming him publicly as responsible for corruption in a prior speech, according to a report by the House Homeland Security Committee in 2020.
Joe Biden has repeatedly claimed that he never discussed foreign business with Hunter. (RELATED: Evidence Keeps Piling Up Contradicting Joe Biden’s Claim He Never Discussed Business With Hunter)
Does Archer have any knowledge of Joe Biden intervening on Burisma’s behalf in order to remove Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Viktor Shokin?
A cornerstone of congressional Republicans’ claim of corruption by Joe Biden regarding his son’s business dealings in Ukraine is that he intervened on Burisma’s behalf to have Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Viktor Shokin — who was investigating Burisma at the time — fired in 2016. Biden publicly threatened to withhold $1 billion of U.S. aid to Ukraine unless then-president Petro Poroshenko dismissed Shokin, claiming that Shokin was himself corrupt.
Archer was a member of Burisma’s board of directors while he maintained a relationship with Hunter Biden and contact with Joe Biden, potentially placing him in a position to have known what the elder Biden learned about the company.
If Archer testifies under oath that Joe Biden was informed of corruption investigations by Shokin into Burisma, prior to 2016 when Shokin was fired, it could establish that Joe Biden knew that Shokin’s investigation threatened the company, which paid his son $50,000 a month as a member of its board, before he pressured Ukraine to fire Shokin.
Did Archer or any of his business partners ever refer to Joe Biden as “the Big Guy”?
The phrase “the Big Guy” has been invoked by House Republicans frequently. It has been used by multiple associates of Joe Biden and allegedly refers to him.
In a recently published FBI report, a confidential source wrote that Zlochevsky said that he “did not send any funds directly to the Big Guy.” Separately, the term “Big Guy” emerged in an email regarding a proposed venture involving CEFC China Energy, which was sent to both Hunter and James Biden, Joe Biden’s brother, in 2017, according to a report by the House Ways and Means Committee, which is reviewing Hunter Biden’s tax records.
In that email, James Gillar, an associate of both Archer and Hunter Biden, wrote that 10% of the deal would be for the “Big Guy.” In public testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler — who led the criminal tax investigation into Hunter Biden — testified that they believed the term referred to Joe Biden.
Other business associates of Hunter Biden, such as Tony Bobulinski, have publicly said that Joe Biden was the “Big Guy.”
FBI Confidential Source Rep… by Daily Caller News Foundation
Did Archer or Hunter Biden ever make payments to Joe Biden?
Zlochevsky states that he allegedly “did not send any funds directly” to Joe Biden, according to the FBI report. Hunter Biden, by contrast, had a direct financial relationship with Burisma and frequent dealings with his father, creating an avenue for funds to be transmitted from Burisma and Zlochevsky to Joe Biden.
If Archer admits that payments were made by him or Hunter Biden to his father — such as through their joint ventures — it could lend weight to the allegation that funds sourced from Burisma and other foreign business partners personally benefitted Joe Biden. Establishing that linkage is critical to the committee’s investigation of “foreign nationals [attempting] to target and coerce high-ranking U.S. officials’ family members by providing money or other benefits,” according to its subpoena letter to Archer.
Apart from Hunter, did any members of Joe Biden’s family or personal staff ever communicate with Archer, Zlochevsky or Burisma executives?
Emails released by congressional committees and from Hunter Biden’s laptop refer to Joe Biden’s alleged participation in his son’s business activity only in conjunction with Hunter. Other sources for access to Joe Biden — such as his brother James Biden, who was involved in the CEFC deal — or longtime members of Biden’s personal staff, are not mentioned.
“I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,” Hunter Biden wrote in a WhatsApp message to the head of CEFC, IRS investigators testified, according to CNN. In the FBI’s confidential source report, Zlochevsky is described as contacting Hunter to use his father’s influence.
Archer’s role at Burisma places him in a position to potentially highlight other contacts that may have connected Joe Biden to Burisma executives. Any such contact regarding whom Archer may testify will be a new lead for the committee’s investigation.
Archer’s attorney and the White House did not respond to a request for comment.
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