Burisma bigwigs and Hunter Biden 'called DC' to resolve issue of Ukrainian prosecutor looking into corruption: Devon Archer

Hunter Biden's old friend and longtime business partner Devon Archer detailed President Joe Biden's involvement in his son's foreign dealings during four hours of testimony Monday before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

Whereas Joe Biden told reporters in 2019 while campaigning for president, "I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings," Archer underscored that the Democratic president spoke to his son and to his son's business partners on numerous occasions.

Joe Biden was apparently so critical to Hunter Biden's overseas business dealings, Archer testified, that the then-vice president was "the brand" his son trafficked in.

'The brand'

Archer, whom committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) previously noted played "a significant role in the Biden family's business deals abroad, including but not limited to China, Russia, and Ukraine," was at the investment firm Rosemont Seneca Partners with Hunter Biden and also sat with him on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

In his engagements with the president and his son, he came to understand why Hunter Biden might be worth the $1 million Burisma paid him annually to sit on its board.

Archer indicated that "Burisma would have gone out of business if 'the brand' had not been attached to it."

The Biden presence at and behind the energy company served to dissuade people from messing with the company legally, suggested Archer.

According to Hunter Biden's longtime business partner, "the brand" was summoned over phone during Hunter Biden's business meetings at least 20 times, including once during a Parisian dinner with a French energy company and again in China with the CEO of BHR Partners, an investment fund backed by the Chinese communist regime and co-funded by Hunter Biden in 2013.

While Joe Biden was apparently understood to be "the brand," Hunter Biden simply referred to him as "my guy," said Archer.

Branding pesky prosecutors

Archer referenced an instance in December 2015 when Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of Burisma, and company executive Vadym Pozharski appealed to Hunter Biden for help from Washington, D.C., in dealing with Viktor Shokin, Ukraine's top prosecutor who had launched an investigation into possible corruption at the company.

This was not an unusual request, given the indication in a 2015 email exchange involving the first son and Pozharski that the "ultimate purpose" of Hunter Biden's dealings with the company was to "close down ... any cases/pursuits" against the company's founder.

Hunter Biden, Zlochevsky, and Pozharski "called D.C." to discuss the matter, said Archer.

The New York Post previously reported that this call allegedly took place on Dec. 4, 2015, in Dubai following a Burisma board meeting.

Just days later, Biden traveled to Ukraine and leveraged $1 billion in U.S. aid in order to get Shokin fired.

In response to Archer's revelations about the call, the Oversight Committee has indicated that Hunter Biden may have been in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Talking about guilt and the weather

Comer said in a statement, "Devon Archer’s testimony today confirms Joe Biden lied to the American people when he said he had no knowledge about his son’s business dealings and was not involved. Joe Biden was 'the brand' that his son sold around the world to enrich the Biden family."

"Why did Joe Biden lie to the American people about his family’s business dealings and his involvement? It begs the question what else he is hiding from the American people," said Comer. "The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability will continue to follow the Bidens’ money trail and interview witnesses to determine whether foreign actors targeted the Bidens, President Biden is compromised and corrupt, and our national security is threatened."

While Archer confirmed Joe Biden's involvement in some of his son's schemes as well as the president's meeting with Pozharski and Russian billionaire Yelena Baturina — whom a U.S. Senate report previously accused of wiring $3.5 million to the first son and who coincidentally managed to dodge the Biden administration's Russian sanctions — Democratic committee member Daniel Goldman (N.Y.) stressed that everything appears to be hunky-dory.

Goldman claimed on Twitter, "This investigation has uncovered ZERO evidence connected to President Biden. In fact, the evidence is clear that President Biden had nothing to do with Hunter's businesses."

Goldman maintained that Joe Biden's numerous conversations with Hunter Biden's business partners were innocent.

"He described what the weather was," said Goldman. "It’s kind of a preposterous premise to think that a father should not say hello to people that the son is at dinner with, and that’s literally all the evidence is."

The New York Post indicated that Goldman's sense that Archer provided no damaging information in his testimony regarding "the brand" or any indication that Burisma wanted Shokin fired belies what was actually said.

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