Hunter Biden put then-Vice President Joe Biden on several phone calls with the younger man’s overseas business partners, Hunter Biden’s close friend and former business partner Devon Archer is reportedly expected to say in testimony before the House Oversight and Government Accountability Committee.
The Oversight Committee subpoenaed Archer in June, with committee chairman James Comer writing that he holds relevant information on “foreign nationals’ attempts to target and coerce high-ranking U.S. officials’ family members.” Archer was sentenced to 366 days in prison in 2022 after being convicted of defrauding the Oglala Sioux Native American tribe of $60 million, although he is free pending appeal.
Hunter Biden called his father on the phone during at least two dozen meetings with foreign business associates, the New York Post reported Sunday. The then-VP reportedly got on the phone with Burisma executives Mykola Zlochevsky and Vadym Pozharsky on Dec. 4, 2015, Archer is expected to testify. At the same time, Hunter Biden and Archer were working to secure Zlochevsky a new U.S. visa, since his old one was revoked in 2014.
Today’s cover: Hunter Biden put then-VP dad Joe on the phone with business associates at least 2 dozen times, ex-partner Devon Archer to testify https://t.co/PJ6d0LA0DO pic.twitter.com/hIuWYsb0Gv
— New York Post (@nypost) July 24, 2023
Five days after the call, Joe Biden gave a speech to the Ukrainian parliament in which he blasted the “pervasive poison of cronyism, corruption, and kleptocracy” and praised the Ukrainian public for their repeated protests against corruption. He later pushed Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko to fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who had been accused of corruption but was also investigating Burisma.
“I said, you’re not getting the billion. I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. He got fired,” Biden said in 2018 of an aid package the Obama administration threatened to withhold.
Archer will reportedly testify that Hunter Biden would occasionally tell his father that he was in meetings, so the vice president was aware of his business activities. In other instances, however, Hunter would not introduce his guests to his father over the phone, according to the Post. (RELATED: REPORT: Trump Pressed Ukraine President To Investigate Biden’s Son, But Didn’t Propose Quid Pro Quo)
President Joe Biden has repeatedly denied knowledge of his son’s business decisions, even though Hunter Biden has traveled on official state visits to countries where he conducts business. Joe Biden also met with Pozharsky in 2015, according to an email from Hunter Biden’s laptop.