‘Can we get help in D.C.?’ Did Burisma execs know requests to Hunter would reach Joe –

Hunter Biden‘s business partner Devon Archer revealed that Ukrainian oil company Burisma used vague terms to demand he use his influence as the then-vice president’s son for help.

According to Archer, during a dinner with Burisma executives at the Four Seasons in Dubai in December 2015, Hunter said he would be able to get ‘help from D.C.’ in order to relieve some ‘government pressure’ on the company.

He said that the Burisma executives Mykola Zlochevsky and Vadym Pozharskyi did not directly ask Hunter ‘can the big guy help?’

Rather, they used the ‘amorphous’ term: ‘can we get help in D.C.?’

‘The request — you know, basically the request is like, can D.C. help?’ said Archer.

‘But there were not — you know, I’m not going to — there were not — it wasn’t like — there weren’t specific, you know, can the big guy help? It was — it’s always this amorphous, can we get help in D.C.?’

Archer said he understood that ‘D.C.’ meant Hunter’s influence based on his connection to his then-VP father. 

‘Well, I mean, he was a lobbyist and an expert and obviously he carried, you know, a very powerful name. So I think it was that’s what they were asking for,’ said Archer about Hunter. 

He then continued on to confirm that immediately after Hunter was asked to help during the Four Seasons meeting, he ‘called his dad.’ 

Although Archer was not ‘privy’ to the call, he was told that ‘we called D.C.’ 

Another former associate of the first son, U.S. Navy veteran Tony Bobulinski, publicly claimed in October 2020 that ‘big guy’ was a reference to President Biden.

In addition, an internal FBI document revealed that Burisma CEO Zlochevsky had also referred to Joe as the ‘big guy.’

Archer testified that Burisma was ‘getting pressure’ and as a result, they ‘requested Hunter, you know, help them with some of that pressure.’

He said it was ‘government pressure’ from the ongoing Ukrainian corruption investigation into the company at the time – led by top prosecutor Viktor Shokin.

However, Archer said that Shokin ‘wasn’t specifically on my radar as being an individual that was — that was targeting him.’ 

‘I vaguely — whether it was Shokin, I vague — there was a lot of pressure initially. There was — there was several pressure issues. It was kind of a theme of Burisma.’ 

‘But yes, there was constant pressure. And it was like it was like whack a mole in regards to the pressures that had to resolve,’ Archer continued.

In March 2016, Joe Biden is alleged to have threatened to withhold $1 billion in aid to Ukraine if Shokin was not fired for corruption, which he eventually was.

DailyMail.com obtained the full transcript of Archer’s testimony Thursday following his closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee on Monday.

 Archer, Hunter’s ex-best friend and business associate, sat with him on Burisma’s board beginning in 2014 and was co-founder of Rosemont Seneca Partners, an investment advisory firm. They each made around $83,000 per month as Burisma board members.

 Archer also told Congress that Joe Biden‘s ‘intimidating’ influence directly led to his son receiving huge sums of foreign money – and a $142,300 Porsche. 

According to the full transcript of his testimony obtained by DailyMail.com on Thursday, Archer said that the Biden ‘brand’ acted as protection for Ukrainian oil company Burisma because ‘people would be intimidated to mess with them.’ 

Hunter’s presence on Burisma’s board and access to his father – then vice president – led to the company’s ‘longevity’ because they had the ‘capabilities to navigate D.C.,’ Archer said according to the transcript. 

‘I think Burisma would have gone out of business if it didn’t have the brand attached to it. That’s my, like, only honest opinion,’ Archer continued.

Archer also added that Hunter Biden would refer to his father as ‘my guy,’ which Republicans noted following the closed-door testimony on Monday.

According to the transcript, Hunter was ‘getting paid a lot of money’ by Burisma and ‘wanted to show value’ by getting credit for Joe Biden’s Ukraine trip in 2014.

‘I can’t guide my father in what he’s going to do on this trip, but let’s get credit for it,’ Archer said Hunter was thinking by referring to his dad as ‘my guy.’

Exhibit 2 in the attachments also showed Hunter, on email as ‘Robert,’ writing to Archer in April 2014 saying ‘our guy needs to set himself up as the anti-Victor Pinchuk (coal and steel oligarch – pro Russian Yanukuvich supporter).  

At the time, then-Vice President Joe Biden was leading the U.S. anti-corruption efforts abroad. 

• Hunter’s ex-business partner Devon Archer testified that the  Biden ‘brand’ acted as protection for Ukrainian oil company Burisma 
• He said because ‘people would be intimidated to mess with them’ because the then-VP’s son sat on their board
• ‘I think Burisma would have gone out of business if it didn’t have the brand attached to it,’ said Archer 
• Burisma had the ‘capabilities to navigate D.C.’ based on its connections to Joe Biden through Hunter
• Archer testified that the company ‘requested Hunter’ to ‘help them with some of that pressure’ they faced from investigations
• Hunter put Joe on speakerphone 20 times during business meetings over a 10-year period, which was a ‘signal’ of ‘value’
• Archer said Hunter used his dad as ‘defensive leverage’
• Hunter got a $142K Porsche days after Joe sat down for dinner with his business associates at Cafe Milano in D.C. 
• Another $3.5 million from a Russian billionaire was wired into a Biden-connected account after Joe attended one of Hunter’s business dinners 
• Archer also said that Hunter Biden would refer to his father as ‘my guy‘

Hunter’s best friend and business associate sat with him on Burisma’s board beginning in 2014. They also started Rosemont Seneca Partners, an investment advisory firm, together.

He confirmed that Hunter put Joe on speakerphone 20 times during business meetings over a 10-year period, which was a ‘signal’ of ‘value,’ and Hunter used his dad as ‘defensive leverage.’

He also told lawmakers that Joe sat and had dinner in-person on at least two occasions with Hunter and his foreign business partners, who then wired money almost immediately after to Biden-affiliated companies.

In the spring of 2014, Joe joined Hunter and a handful of his business partners for dinner at Cafe Milano in Washington, D.C. Those at the dinner included Kenes Rakishev, Karim Massimov, Yelena Baturina and possibly Eric Schwerin.

Archer confirmed that Joe was present long enough to eat dinner with the group. 

Following the dinner, $3.5 million was wired from Russian billionaire Yelena Baturina into Rosemont Seneca Thornton on February 14.

On April 22, $142,300 was wired into the Rosemont Seneca Bohai account from Kenes Rakishev, a businessman from Kazakhstan, who was also at the Cafe Milano dinner.

The payment was made as a gift to Hunter, who received an ‘expensive car.’

Archer told the committee: ‘I believe it was a Fisker first and then a Porsche.’

Hunter took a picture of himself while driving a Porsche at 172mph on a highway outside Las Vegas in 2018, according to pictures found on his abandoned laptop. It was not immediately clear if the Porsche gifted to Hunter by Rakishev was the same vehicle.

The then-vice president also sat in on another dinner with Hunter and his partners in 2015 at Cafe Milano, Archer confirmed.

Questions had remained about why Archer decided to cooperate with the committee this week after he previously cancelled on the committee at least three times in recent weeks.

Archer, 48, was subpoenaed on June 12 by the House Oversight Committee, which is investigating Hunter’s businesses and whether he and other members of the Biden family improperly traded on their connections.

According to Archer’s opening statement in the transcript, he said ‘it’s been a long decade’ and his entire forties have been ‘mired in fighting the government.’

‘So I want to be cooperative now and maybe we can all be friends. So let’s take it from there,’ he told committee staff and lawmakers.

Archer is facing legal troubles of his own and is expected to go to prison shortly.

He was sentenced to one year and a day in prison in February 2022 for defrauding a Native American tribal entity and various investment advisory clients of tens of millions of dollars, in connection with the issuance of $60 million in bonds.

He is on the hook with his co-conspirators for $43.4 million in restitution over the fraud.

On the eve of his testimony, the Department of Justice sent a letter calling for Archer’s sentencing to be expedited.

Republicans claimed the move by DOJ was an attempt to ‘intimidate’ Archer, who they view as being central to providing information that is critical to their ongoing investigation into whether Joe Biden was involved in his son’s foreign business deals.

DOJ seemingly walked back their request in a fresh Sunday filing, telling District Judge Abrams that they did not wish to see Archer imprisoned before he testified before Congress.

‘To be clear, the Government does not request (and has never requested) that the defendant [Archer] surrender before his Congressional testimony,’ the letter read.

The White House has maintained the president was never ‘in business’ with his son, but the GOP have ramped up their investigation with testimonies from whistleblowers and a slew of other evidence. 

After Archer’s closed-door testimony on Monday to the House Oversight Committee, Republicans said he revealed Joe was directly involved in Hunter’s shady dealings, while Democrats insisted the then-vice president’s involvement was innocent and focused on ‘niceties,’ not business.