House Republicans said Devon Archer provided confirmation that President Biden previously lied about his knowledge of Hunter Biden’s business dealings and Democrats said the testimony yielded no evidence of wrongdoing.
President Biden spoke to his son Hunter during meetings with foreign business associates about 20 times over the course of a decade, mostly over speakerphone and including while serving as vice president, a former business partner of Hunter Biden testified Monday to Congress.
Devon Archer testified that some meetings included prospective business clients and that Biden was put on the phone to bolster “the brand” of having a powerful father, according to lawmakers who were present for the nearly five hours of closed-door testimony before the House Oversight Committee.
Republicans and Democrats offered dueling takes on the significance of Archer’s testimony, with Republicans saying it provided confirmation that Biden previously lied about his knowledge of his son’s business dealings and Democrats saying the testimony yielded no evidence of wrongdoing and that Archer said the conversations never focused on Hunter Biden’s business.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said that Archer’s testimony encouraged Republicans to continue their pursuit of whether “foreign actors targeted the Bidens” and whether Biden is “compromised and corrupt.”
“Why did Joe Biden lie to the American people about his family’s business dealings and his involvement?” Comer said in a statement. “It begs the question [of] what else he is hiding from the American people.”
In 2019, Biden said he had “never spoken to” his son about his business dealings. Comer’s panel has been probing whether Biden was in fact involved, particularly with entities in Ukraine and China. Last week, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) suggested the GOP could eventually launch an impeachment inquiry, which would give the lawmakers additional investigative powers.
