The Bidens’ former business partner Devon Archer told lawmakers Monday that President Biden’s family “was in the business of influence peddling” and that Mr. Biden’s 20-plus phone calls into business meetings were central to son Hunter Biden’s strategy for cutting lucrative deals.
Archer delivered closed-door testimony as part of a three-committee investigation into the Biden family business deals and allegations that President Biden was involved in the schemes.
Further advancing the investigation, sources close to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee told The Washington Times that the panel had uncovered new bank records connecting the Biden family to foreign deals in Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan.
Then-Vice President Biden was central to securing some of those deals by stopping by or calling into meetings that his son Hunter was conducting with executives from overseas firms.
The calls “indicated power and indicated substance,” Archer told lawmakers, according to Rep. Andy Biggs, an Arizona Republican who took part in the closed-door interview with Archer.
Archer, who has been convicted of securities fraud in an unrelated matter and is facing a yearlong prison sentence, said Mr. Biden phoned into his son’s business deals on at least 20 occasions.
SEE ALSO: House GOP launches DOJ probe over bungled plea deal with Hunter Biden
“The Biden family business was influence peddling,” Archer told lawmakers, according to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican who spoke to The Washington Times. Ms. Greene was informed by others about Archer’s testimony but was not in the room when he delivered it.
According to Mr. Biggs, Archer said Mr. Biden’s calls, which date back to his time as vice president in the Obama administration, were aimed at influencing and persuading the foreign nationals on the other end of the line to go into business with Hunter Biden.
House investigators say the Biden family and their associates may have pocketed up to $20 million from those deals over the years, much of it while Mr. Biden was vice president.
One of those deals landed Hunter Biden and Archer lucrative jobs serving on the board of the now-defunct Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky wanted Vice President Biden to help oust Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating the company and hobbling its efforts to enter the U.S. energy market.
In a 2018 speech, Mr. Biden said that as vice president, he forced out Mr. Shokin after threatening to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees from Ukraine.
“Burisma would have gone out of business sooner if the Biden brand had not been invoked,” Archer told lawmakers, according to notes Mr. Biggs took in the deposition.
Archer added, “People would be intimidated to legally mess with Burisma. Because of the Biden family brand.”
The “brand,” Archer said, is Joe Biden.
Hunter Biden took another phone-in when he met in China with Jonathan Li, the CEO of investment fund BHR.
The Li-Biden connection has been documented by House and Senate investigators who flagged a 2013 trip to China in which the vice president took Hunter Biden along on Air Force Two.
During the trip, Hunter Biden met with Li and arranged for him to shake hands with his father. Shortly thereafter, BHR’s business license was approved and Hunter Biden was named a board member and held a 10% stake in the company.
In 2017, Mr. Biden wrote U.S. college recommendations for Mr. Li’s son, Chris.
Mr. Biden also phoned in when Hunter Biden was in a Paris restaurant with French energy company executives, according to Archer.
House Judiciary Committee lawmakers said Archer told them Mr. Zlochevsky and fellow Burisma executive Vadym Pozharski “placed constant pressure on Hunter Biden to get help from D.C. regarding the Ukrainian prosecutor, Viktor Shokin.”
Hunter Biden, Mr. Zlochevsky and Mr. Pozharski stepped away and “called D.C.” to discuss the matter, according to Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee.
The lawmakers said the action “raises concerns that Hunter Biden was in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.”
Last week, Hunter Biden’s plea deal on federal tax fraud and a gun charge unraveled in court. Judge Maryellen Noreika forced prosecutors to backtrack on a secretive deal that would have spared Hunter Biden any further charges, including criminal charges related to that foreign lobbying law. It is the same law that landed several Trump associates in prison.
Rep. Daniel Goldman, a New York Democrat who attended the deposition, told reporters that Archer did not provide any evidence that the president acted corruptly.
Archer said the president merely phoned into the meetings to say hello and did not discuss business, Mr. Goldman explained.
“The implication that because Hunter put his father on the speakerphone with people that Hunter was doing business with had meant that President Biden had any discussions about business is false,” he said.
Mr. Goldman said Burisma was not seeking Mr. Shokin’s ouster. Archer told the committees that Burisma executives thought they had Mr. Shokin “in their pocket” and did not want him removed.
Archer’s statement contradicts evidence cited earlier this year by Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, that Mr. Shokin’s office “announced the seizure of property from … Burisma Holding’s founder, Mykola Zlochevsky,” nearly two months before Mr. Shokin’s firing.
Newly released details from a paid FBI informant include a claim that Vice President Biden and Hunter Biden each accepted $5 million bribes from Mr. Zlochevsky, Burisma’s CEO.
The “trusted” and “highly credible” FBI informant said Mr. Zlochevsky paid the bribes in 2015 and 2016 to solicit Mr. Biden’s help in thwarting Mr. Shokin and any corruption probe of Burisma.
Mr. Zlochevsky said he had audio recordings documenting Vice President Biden’s involvement. None of his claims has been verified, and Mr. Zlochevsky’s whereabouts are unknown.
Lawmakers said Archer told them that he knew nothing about the bribery allegation. Mr. Goldman said he would have been surprised about such a transaction because Mr. Zlochevsky wanted Mr. Shokin to remain in office.
“There is not a shred of evidence of a single conflict of interest of President Biden ever doing anything in connection or in relation to Hunter Biden’s business ventures,” Mr. Goldman told reporters.
Ms. Greene called Mr. Goldman’s statements “spin.”
Before winning his congressional seat, Mr. Goldman served as the top Democratic attorney on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and helped lead the first impeachment trial against President Trump. Mr. Trump was impeached in party-line votes for asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate Mr. Biden’s efforts to oust Mr. Shokin.
“Influence peddling is not considered necessarily a crime,” Ms. Greene said. “But it is a crime when it comes to an elected officeholder, especially in the position of the vice president. And so that’s where the crimes come into play. And, you know, Devon Archer laid it out there today.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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