Smoking gun.
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Key Witness Doesn’t Back Up GOP’s Biggest Allegations on Bidens
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=Key+Witness+Doesn%E2%80%99t+Back+Up+GOP%E2%80%99s+Biggest+Allegations+on+BidensRepublicans who for months have accused President Joe Biden without proof of crime and corruption thought that a former business partner of his son’s could be the key to finally substantiating their most serious allegations.
“Hunter’s ex-business partner, Devon Archer, could blow the lid off Joe Biden’s phony claims of innocence,” blared an email Friday from former President Donald Trump’s campaign.
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., told Fox News that Archer could become a “hero” of the House GOP’s investigation into what they call the “Biden crime family,” delivering the damning evidence they need to impeach Biden.
But the testimony this week of Archer, a former Yale lacrosse player who has been convicted of federal tax charges, fell well short of that, shooting down a bribery allegation Republicans have long promoted and generally rejecting the idea that the elder Biden had any material involvement in his son’s business dealings. It was the latest instance of House Republicans promising far more than they could produce in terms of proof of their allegations against the president.
“Are you aware of any wrongdoing by Vice President Biden?” Archer’s lawyer asked him at one point during the closed-door testimony before the House oversight committee, a transcript of which was released Thursday.
“No, I’m not aware of any,” Archer replied.
Archer offered a wholly unflattering portrait of the actions of Biden’s son Hunter, providing an account that raised ethical questions about the way he conducted business. It also suggested questionable judgment on the part of the president, who, according to Archer’s testimony, repeatedly allowed himself to be in the presence — either physically or by phone — of business associates of his son’s who were apparently seeking connections and influence inside the U.S. government.
But the elder Biden never actually got involved, Archer told the panel.
In particular, Archer debunked an anonymous, unverified allegation that Republicans have trumpeted for months that Joe Biden, while vice president, and his son each accepted a $5 million bribe from an official with Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
Archer, who sat on the Burisma board along with Hunter Biden and handled his payments from the company, told lawmakers that he had never heard of any such transaction, and said the claims were most likely false boasting.
That testimony was consistent with evidence put forth recently from Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani’s, who served as the personal lawyer to Trump and who was assigned to dig up dirt on the Bidens in Ukraine.
House Democrats released an interview Parnas conducted with Mykola Zlochevsky during his investigation in which the Burisma co-founder wrote in all caps: “NO ONE FROM BURISMA EVER HAD ANY CONTACTS WITH VP BIDEN OR PEOPLE WORKING FOR HIM DURING HUNTER BIDEN’S ENGAGEMENT.”
Archer also undercut another Republican argument that the elder Biden had pressured Ukrainian officials in 2016 to fire Viktor Shokin, former prosecutor general of Ukraine, because he was investigating the company.
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