Hunter Biden’s former business associate Devon Archer testified Monday the president’s son was added to Ukrainian energy company Burisma’s board due to “the brand” attached to Joe Biden.
Archer’s House Oversight Committee testimony was held behind closed doors.
“Devon Archer testified that the value of adding Hunter Biden to Burisma’s board was ‘the brand’ and confirmed that then-Vice President Joe Biden was ‘the brand,'” House Oversight Chairman James Comer said in a statement.
Archer testified that “Burisma would have gone out of business if ‘the brand’ had not been attached to it,” the statement continued. “He believed that Hunter Biden being on the board and the Biden brand contributed to Burisma’s longevity. People would have been intimidated to mess with Burisma legally because of the Biden brand.”
According to Comer’s statement, “Archer testified that Joe Biden was put on the phone to sell ‘the brand.’ These phone calls include a dinner in Paris with a French energy company and in China with Jonathan Li, the CEO of BHR.”
Hunter Biden served on Burisma’s board from 2014 to 2019. In 2017, the president’s son earned “$500,000 in director’s fees from a Ukrainian energy company,” according to court documents.
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 31: Devon Archer (C), Hunter Biden’s former business partner, leaves the O’Neill House Office Building after testifying to the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill on July 31, 2023 in Washington, DC. Archer gave closed-door testimony to the Republican-controlled committee that is investigating President Joe Biden’s son. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Hunter Biden and his business associates attempted to get Burisma founder Mykola Zlochevsky a U.S. visa shortly after Hunter became a board member, according to emails reviewed by the Daily Caller. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Hunter Biden Worked To Secure US Visa For Ukrainian Oligarch Allegedly Involved In Suspected Bribery Scheme)
In an FD-1023 form published by Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, an FBI confidential human source (CHS) alleged that Joe Biden told Zlochevsky to keep his son at Burisma.
“CHS inquired whether Hunter Biden or Joe Biden told Zlochevsky he should retain Hunter Biden; Zlochevsky replied, ‘They both did,'” the form reads.
Archer’s testimony also raises concerns about Hunter Biden potentially violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), Comer’s statement read.
Zlochevsky and his conduit Vadim Pozharski “placed constant pressure” on Hunter Biden to “get help from D.C. regarding the Ukrainian prosecutor, Viktor Shokin,” who was investigating Burisma for corruption, Comer said in his statement.
“Hunter Biden, along with Zlochevsky and Pozharski, ‘called D.C.’ to discuss the matter. Biden, Zlochevsky, and Pozharski stepped away to make the call,” per the statement.
Archer also testified then-Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden spoke “more than 20 times about their business deals,” Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told the Daily Caller.