Joe Biden’s interactions with Hunter Biden’s business partners were well known prior to business associate Devon Archer’s testimony, The New York Times reported Monday.
Archer testified to the House Oversight Committee about how Joe Biden spoke with his son’s foreign business associates in person or by speakerphone more than 20 times, Oversight Committee Chair James Comer said in a statement. Archer spoke about how Hunter Biden added value to “the brand” of Burisma and “called D.C.” to pressure the Ukrainian government into firing prosecutor Viktor Shokin. (RELATED: Joe Biden Dined With Hunter Biden And Russian Oligarch In Washington, Devon Archer Testifies)
The New York Times reported that it has “long been known that the elder Mr. Biden at times interacted with his son’s business partners” in the 20th paragraph of its story about Archer’s testimony.
Joe Biden in 2019: “I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.”
Democrats in 2023: Yes, Joe was on the phone with Hunter’s shady foreign associates, but only to talk about the weather. https://t.co/OVEp4aQYMD
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) August 1, 2023
Joe Biden repeatedly said on the presidential campaign trail that he did not speak with Hunter Biden about his foreign business dealings.
“I have never discussed, with my son or my brother or with anyone else, anything having to do with their businesses. Period,” he said in an August 2019 campaign event in South Carolina, according to Politico. “And what I will do is the same thing we did in our administration. There will be an absolute wall between personal and private [business interests] and the government,” he added.
“I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings,” he said in Iowa the following month, USA Today reported. “Here’s what I know. Trump should be investigated.”
Democrats such as New York Rep. Dan Goldman admitted to Biden’s phone calls and claimed Joe Biden only exchanged pleasantries and talked about the weather. Goldman denied that Joe Biden said he never spoke about Hunter’s business dealings and Goldman invoked Joe Biden’s deceased son Beau to defend the president.
Joe Biden also said the Hunter Biden laptop was a “Russian plant” when he debated then-President Trump in October 2020. Biden’s claims were based on a debunked letter from 51 former intelligence officials calling the laptop a “Russian information operation” shortly after the New York Post’s reporting on the laptop was censored by Twitter.
Former CIA Director Michael Morrell testified to the House Judiciary Committee that the letter was orchestrated by Biden Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Morrell wanted Joe Biden to win the 2020 presidential election.
The Daily Caller News Foundation, New York Times, Washington Post and CBS News verified the laptop’s contents following the New York Post’s reporting.
The White House said Joe Biden was “not in business” with his son after IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley revealed a threatening text Hunter Biden allegedly sent to a Chinese business associate with his father in the room.