The Department of Justice looks to be meddling in the Hunter Biden investigation once again, this time trying to get one of the key witnesses in the congressional investigation put in jail before he can give testimony.
On Saturday, federal prosecutors in Manhattan requested that a judge set the date for Devon Archer to report to prison so he can start his one-year jail sentence for a fraud case that’s unrelated to Hunter Biden’s scandals.
Earlier last week, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction against Archer that happened in 2018. He was found guilty of two different felony charges related to conspiring to defraud a Native American tribe.
Once that ruling was made, the federal prosecutors quickly drafted a letter to the judge in that case, Ronnie Abrams, which read that in light of the ruling from the appeals court:
[The DOJ] respectfully requests that the defendant be ordered to surrender, at a date and time determined by the Court, to a facility designated by the Bureau of Prisons to commence his term of imprisonment.”
This letter has already been viewed by many as the DOJ trying to meddle into the GOP-led congressional investigation into Hunter Biden’s scandals, and how his father, President Joe Biden, might have been involved.
That’s because Archer was scheduled to deliver testimony to the House Oversight Committee Monday behind closed doors specifically in regard to the Hunter Biden investigation.
On Sunday, Matthew Schwartz, who’s serving as the attorney for Archer, said his client still planned to testify to the House, even as the DOJ letter is being viewed as a way to try to intimidate him. As he said in a statement:
“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.
“To be clear, Mr. Archer does not agree with that speculation. 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 is expected to file his response to the DOJ request for his client’s jail sentence by Wednesday of this week. He has said in the past that it was still “premature” to select a date for Archer to report to prison, since he’s still weighing his other options for appeal.
Archer is relevant to the Hunter Biden investigation because he co-founded Rosemont Seneca Partners – an advisory and investment firm – with him along with Christopher Heinz. Hunter Biden is alleged to have used that firm to wheel and deal with many overseas businesses.
His testimony is expected to include stories about Hunter Biden calling his father, who was then serving as vice president under Barack Obama, while they were in meetings with their overseas partners.
The president has denied this on numerous occasions, saying in the past:
“I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.”
