Oversight Committee subpoenas former Hunter Biden business partner

Congressional Republicans have subpoenaed Hunter Biden's former business partner, Devon Archer, demanding he sit for a deposition this week.

The Oversight Committee has been investigating the business dealings of several members of President Joe Biden's family. Kentucky Republican James Comer wrote in a letter to an attorney for Archer stating that he "played a significant role in the Biden family's business deals abroad, including but not limited to China, Russia, and Ukraine."

"Additionally, while undertaking these ventures with the Biden family, your client met with then-Vice President Biden on multiple occasions, including in the White House," wrote Comer, the Oversight Committee chairman.

Archer's potential testimony to the GOP House Oversight Committee is a significant milestone in the congressional probe. Archer served alongside Hunter Biden on the board of Burisma, a Ukraine energy company, beginning in 2014. During this period, then-Vice President Joe Biden was deeply involved in Ukraine policy, an era when his opponents say the energy firm was involved in corruption.

An independent forensic review of Hunter Biden's laptop data by CBS News confirmed hundreds of communications between Hunter Biden and Archer, specifically, emails that suggest working meals were arranged before or after Burisma board meetings.  Archer is widely believed to have facilitated Hunter Biden's entry onto Burisma's board.

In February, Comer informed Hunter and the president's brother James that he is seeking documents and communications from the Bidens as part of his committee's probe into any possible involvement by the president in their financial conduct, in particular in foreign business deals "with individuals who were connected to the Chinese Communist Party." Comer accused them in his letter of receiving "significant amounts of money from foreign companies without providing any known legitimate services."

White House spokesman Ian Sams tweeted on May 10 that the committee was "really just microwaving old debunked stuff" while offering "no evidence of any wrongdoing" by the president. 

"House Republicans have shown no evidence of any policy decisions influenced by anything other than U.S. national interests," Sams wrote.

After reviewing thousands of records subpoenaed from four banks, the House Oversight Committee said in an interim report last month that some Biden family members, associates and their companies received more than $10 million from foreign entities, including payments made during and after President Joe Biden's vice presidency. But the White House countered that GOP investigators could not point to a "single Joe Biden policy" that was unduly influenced.

The 36-page interim GOP report, released by Comer accused some Biden family members and associates of using a "complicated network" of more than 20 companies, mostly LLCs formed when Mr. Biden was vice president, and used "incremental payments over time" to "conceal large financial transactions."

"From a historical standpoint, we've never seen a presidential family receive these sums of money from adversaries around the world," Comer said. 

After the report's May 11 release, Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Hunter Biden, said the committee was "redoing old investigations that found no evidence of wrongdoing by Mr. Biden."

Archer was convicted in 2018 of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud for his role in a scheme to defraud a Native American tribe and multiple pension funds. His conviction was overturned later that year, and U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abram wrote in her decision she was "left with an unwavering concern that Archer is innocent of the crimes charged."

The conviction was later reinstated by a federal appeals court. Archer lost an appeal of that decision earlier this month. He has not yet been sentenced.

An attorney for Archer did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Read the documents below:

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• Hunter Biden

Catherine Herridge

Catherine Herridge is a senior investigative correspondent for CBS News covering national security and intelligence based in Washington, D.C.

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