OAN’s Brooke Mallory
2:49 PM – Sunday, July 30, 2023
According to newly released court records, the Justice Department is pressing for Devon Archer to report to prison only days before the former Hunter Biden business partner’s highly anticipated congressional appearance.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan sent a letter on Saturday demanding that a court set a date for Archer to begin his one-year sentence in a fraud case separate from Hunter’s numerous scandals and illegal activities.
Archer’s 2018 conviction on two felony charges for his involvement in a conspiracy to defraud a Native American tribe was upheld last Tuesday by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Archer, who is scheduled to testify about the president’s son before the House Oversight Committee on Monday, has been contesting the conviction.
His attorney, Matthew Schwartz, said he would file a formal response to the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s request by Wednesday and that his client would continue to testify as scheduled, despite charges that the DOJ letter was an intimidation technique.
“We are aware of speculation that the Department of Justice’s weekend request to have Mr. Archer report to prison is an attempt by the Biden administration to intimidate him in advance of his meeting with the House Oversight Committee,” Schwartz said in a statement.
“To be clear, Mr. Archer does not agree with that speculation,” Schwartz continued. “In any case, Mr. Archer will do what he has planned to do all along, which is to show up on Monday and to honestly answer the questions that are put to him by the Congressional investigators.”
Schwartz has claimed that setting a detention date was “premature” as he considers his appeal options.
Archer, Biden, and Christopher Heinz co-founded Rosemont Seneca Partners in 2009, which the first son purportedly utilized as a vehicle for many of his shady business ventures abroad.
Archer is likely to testify that during numerous meetings with international partners, Hunter Biden would phone in his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, the Washington Post outlet revealed.
This is a significant milestone in the GOP-led investigations into Biden family crimes since it could link the president to his son’s business dealings.
“I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings,” Biden claimed previously.
The White House now claims that the president “was never in business with his son,” an obvious shift in verbiage that press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has dismissed.
For months, Biden administration officials have also slammed Republicans for their investigation into the First Family’s economic practices, emphasizing that the president has not been personally involved.
“Just last week, his fellow GOP colleague on the Oversight Committee said this on camera for all to see: ‘I’ve heard over and over that President Biden has not been implicated or proven for any wrongdoing here, and I acknowledge that,'” White House spokesperson Ian Sams said.
In June, Comer subpoenaed Archer and described the timing of the prison request letter as “odd.”
“I don’t want to put words in Devon Archer’s mouth,” Comer said. “But I’ll say this: He has an opportunity to come tomorrow to the House Oversight Committee and tell the truth.”
Florida’s Republican representative, Matt Gaetz, also decided to chime in and speak on the suspicious timing.
Hunter Biden’s proposed plea deal with federal prosecutors went up in flames last week as a Trump-appointed judge raised constitutional issues and identified distance between the two parties.
Hunter subsequently pleaded not guilty to two tax misdemeanor counts, which the majority of the public assumed he would plead guilty to.
Both parties’ attorneys anticipate going back to the drawing board to iron out their disagreements.
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