Devon Archer testifies that Joe was on at least 20 of Hunter’s business calls
Joe Biden is a super friendly guy or Joe Biden, while he was still vice president, was up to his neck in business deals with the foreign-government-connected companies that paid his son tens of millions of dollars. Whether you believe the former or the latter depends on whom you trust more: Democrats or Republicans. Or whether just go where the facts lead you.
Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s former business partner, didn’t make any revelations in public. Instead, he spoke in private to the House Oversight Committee, so what he said is still hearsay. Nevertheless, word on the streets (make that, word on Daily Mail) is that Archer made it clear that Joe Biden was on some of the business phone calls:
Hunter Biden's business partner Devon Archer told Congress in bombshell testimony the 'Biden brand' helped Ukrainian firm Burisma from going bankrupt and revealed Joe was on the phone more than 20 times while his son was talking with foreign associates.
Republicans claim Archer's testimony added to mounting evidence that the then-Vice President was involved in Hunter's overseas deals that raked in millions from nations including China and Romania. Democrats claimed the phone calls were innocent and did not involve business.
Image: The Biden family. YouTube screen grab.
Given what Hunter Biden’s hard drive exposed and an FBI’s confidential source statement about a Burisma executive buying Hunter to get to Joe, Archer’s alleged statements aren’t really so surprising. Rep. Dan Goldman, who is making a name for himself as one who will defend Democrats no matter how foolish he ends up sounding, insists that all these interactions were mere banal civilities:
Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman confirmed Archer told the House Oversight Committee that Joe had been on speakerphone multiple times while his son was talking with business partners - but insisted they were talking about 'niceties' such as the weather.
[snip]
Goldman - lead counsel on the first Trump impeachment and the only Democrat present in the room of the testimony - told reporters that Archer 'indicated that Hunter spoke to his father every day, and approximately 20 times over the course of a 10 year relationship, Hunter may have put his father on the phone with any number of different people, and they never once spoke about any business dealings.'
Goldman claimed Archer had said Joe and Hunter's business partners only exchanged 'niceties' like talking about 'the weather, "what's going on?"'
It’s entirely possible that Joe’s words were meteorological. However, when you’re a busy man (the vice president of the United States!), taking time out of your day for at least 20 phone calls to shoot the breeze with your son’s overseas business contacts isn’t a credible story. Indeed, that narrative makes sense only if you give it a single interpretation: That Joe got on the phone during these calls as an assurance that, when Hunter said Joe was part of the deal, Joe was indeed part of the deal.
That’s exactly how Republicans understood the testimony and, indeed, they indicate that Archer said a great deal more than just describing Joe talking about the weather:
Republican Rep. Andy Biggs then said that, according to Archer, Hunter was on the Ukrainian energy firm board because of his family 'brand' - and Joe added 'value'.
[snip]
Oversight member Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told DailyMail.com in an interview Archer testified that 'the Bidens were in the actual business of influence peddling.'
'It's extremely damning,' she said, claiming that the 20 phone conversations Archer referred to were directly about business deals.
'We have Devon Archer coming out and telling the truth that Hunter Biden and Joe Biden spoke over 20 times about his business deals, not about the weather, not about what was for lunch about his business deals,' she said.
Very few legal cases ever turn on direct evidence. Most turn on inferential evidence—that is, when you have facts that circle around the primary issue, is there a set of facts that, taken together, proves or disproves the allegations. In the case of Hunter and Joe Biden, each additional fact (e.g., the hard drive, the FBI confidential informant report, Devon Archer’s testimony) increases the likelihood that the correct inference is that Joe was up to his neck in selling out America for the Biden family bank account.