Hunter Biden ‘s ex-business partner Devon Archer 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.

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. During another dinner with Burisma executives at the Four Seasons, Hunter said he would be able to get ‘help from D.C.’ in order to relieve some ‘government pressure’ on the company.

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 investigation into the company at the time – led by top prosecutor Shokin. ‘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,’ said Archer. He said that the Burisma executives weren’t specific in asking directly ‘can the big guy help?’ Rather, they used the ‘amorphous’ term: ‘can we get help in D.C.?’ Archer 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. 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.

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. 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. On Wednesday, Archer told Tucker Carlson during his first interview since giving testimony, that the ‘Biden brand’ was ‘absolutely’ a key component of Hunter’s work on the Burisma board. Archer confirmed he had met the now-president ‘probably 20 times’ and again confirmed that Joe Biden had interacted with Hunter’s business partners around 20 times over the 10 years he was close with the family. ‘I can definitively say at particular dinners or meetings, he knew there were business associates,’ said Archer, who did not claim that Joe Biden had ever actually discussed the business dealings.

I don’t know if it was an orchestrated call in or not. It certainly was powerful, though, because, you know, if you’re sitting with a foreign businessperson and you hear the vice president’s voice, that’s prize enough,’ Archer went on. ‘Sometimes it was the call was coming in and the speaker would go on,’ Archer said, detailing the conversations. ‘You understand D.C. right? So the power to have that access in that conversation – it’s not in a scheduled conference call and that’s a part of your family. That’s like the pinnacle of power in D.C.’ Rep. Dan Goldman, N.Y., the only Democrat in the room for Archer’s testimony, did not deny Biden had been on business calls with his son but said it was moreso to exchange ‘niceties’ like talking about ‘the weather, “what’s going on?”‘ ‘Remember, this is when Beau got ill,’ Goldman said, noting that Hunter and Joe spoke on the phone frequently before Beau – Joe Biden’s eldest son – died in 2015.

Through the investment and policy advisory firm Archer and Hunter Biden led together – Rosemont Seneca – Hunter led on ‘government regulatory issues,’ said Archer. ‘Did Hunter have regulation expertise?’ asked Carlson. ‘I think he led a team that did,’ said Archer, noting that the work Hunter did was primarily knowing who to call. Both Archer and Carlson acknowledged it was not new for the relatives of famous government officials to use their connections in business. ‘What we ran into was almost an Icarus issue,’ said Archer. ‘It was too close to the sun it was too good to be true. The connections were too close, the scrutiny too much.’

Archer also shared a letter with Carlson that then-Vice President Joe Biden had written to him in 2011. ‘I apologize for not getting a chance to talk to you at the luncheon yesterday. I was having trouble getting away from hosting President Hu,’ Biden wrote referring to China’s then-president. ‘I hope I get a chance to see you again soon with Hunter. I hope you enjoyed the lunch. Thanks for coming,’ it read, followed up with a handwritten addition: ‘Happy you guys are together.’ Archer and Hunter Biden were close friends at the time they were in business together. Last week Hunter Biden’s plea deal for tax and gun crimes imploded when a judge informed him he could be charged in the future for further crimes – specifically mentioning failing to register as a foreign agent (a FARA violation). President Biden is seemingly unbothered by Archer’s claims and his son’s legal woes – he’s spent Wednesday lounging on the beach in Rehobeth, Del., with First Lady Jill. Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12369121/Hunter-got-PORSCHE-bringing-Joe-dinner-Kazakh-oligarch-Devon-Archers-testimony-Biden-brand-used-INTIMIDATION-Burisma-VPs-20-meetings-sons-business-partners-released.html?ito=msngallery

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