Hunter Biden's business parter testifies before Congress

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A former business partner of Hunter Biden testified that the president's son used the Biden "brand" to his advantage while working for Ukrainian energy company Burisma, according to lawmakers who were present during Monday's closed-door questioning.

Devon Archer, 49, answered questions for about four hours during a transcribed interview before the Republican-led House Oversight Committee, at one point telling members that Biden put his father on speakerphone during business meetings about 20 times, but not to talk to business, Rep. Daniel Goldman said.

“The witness indicated that Hunter spoke to his father every day, and approximately 20 times over the course of 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, D-N.Y., told reporters after the closed-door meeting.

“As he described it, it was all casual conversation, niceties, the weather, what’s going on. There wasn’t a single conversation about any of the business dealings that Hunter had,” Goldman added.

The committee’s chair, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said Archer testified that Joe Biden was put on the phone to sell “the brand.”

Comer said the testimony shows “Joe Biden lied to the American people when he said he had no knowledge about his son’s business dealings and was not involved. Joe Biden was ‘the brand’ that his son sold around the world to enrich the Biden family.”

The committee has been investigating foreign payments to members of the Biden family during and after his time as vice president in the Obama administration. Republican lawmakers have alleged that Biden was involved in his son's business dealings, which the White House has denied.

Goldman said Archer "stated unequivocally" that "there is no evidence in his possession or his knowledge that Joe Biden ever discussed business with Hunter Biden, Joe Biden ever did anything on behalf of Hunter Biden’s business interests or otherwise, never changed official policy in any way, shape or form."

He also said that Archer told the panel that Biden felt he had to give his employers "the illusion of access to his father."

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., said Archer told the panel he didn't know anything about an alleged $5 million bribe to the family that a Burisma executive had mentioned to an FBI informant.

Biggs, however, said he still believes the president is compromised and told reporters, "I think we should do an impeachment inquiry."

Goldman called Biggs' assertion that Biden is compromised "completely absurd."

"The witness repeated over and over and over again that President Biden never discussed any business dealings of Hunter’s with Hunter or anyone else. He repeated over and over again that he never did anything in consideration, official policy or otherwise, in consideration of whatever Hunter’s business interests were. So I have a lot of respect for Congressman Biggs, but that’s just a flat out lie."

Attorneys for Hunter Biden have not commented on Archer's testimony.

Ian Sams, a spokesperson for the White House counsel’s office, said in a statement that “House Republicans’ own much-hyped witness today testified that he never heard of President Biden discussing business with his son or his son’s associates, or doing anything wrong. House Republicans keep promising bombshell evidence to support their ridiculous attacks against the President, but time after time, they keep failing to produce any. In fact, even their own witnesses appear to be debunking their allegations.”

Archer was convicted of securities fraud and conspiracy involving a different company in June of 2018. A New York federal court judge sentenced him to a year and a day in prison last year but stayed the sentence pending an appeal. The federal appeals denied his bid last week

House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said that his committee, which has been investigating the foreign business dealings of President Biden’s family members, will eventually move to subpoena the Biden family — a move Comer hinted could include the president himself.

“This is always going to end with the Bidens coming in front of the committee. We are going to subpoena the family,” Comer said Thursday on Fox Business.

“We know that this is going to end up in court when we subpoena the Bidens. So we’re putting together a case, and I think we’ve done that very well. We’ve shown the bank records,” Comer said. “If I had subpoenaed Joe and Hunter Biden the first day I became chairman of the committee, it would have been tied up in court and the judge would have eventually thrown it out. … We have put together a case that I think would stand up in any court of law in America.”

Comer’s subpoena tease comes a day after his committee released a third staff memo outlining millions of dollars in foreign funds paid to Hunter Biden and his former associates while Joe Biden was vice president.

That memo noted that the committee has so far only subpoenaed banks tailored to specific individuals and companies, but has not yet issued subpoenas for bank records for members of the Biden family.

Comer, though, indicated that subpoenas for members of the Biden family would not be imminent.

“We want to talk to about three or four more associates first,” Comer said. “We’ve been communicating with a couple of them. We’re trying to bring them in just like we did [former Hunter Biden business partner] Devon Archer for a transcribed interview. If they don’t come in voluntarily, then they’ll be subpoenaed.”

Comer and his fellow extreme Republicans in Congress are now admitting they haven’t uncovered any proof of involvement or wrongdoing by President Biden. They simply will continue to spread innuendo and lies as they pursue a baseless impeachment stunt to attack the president,” said Ian Sams, White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, pointing to a portion of the memo in which Republicans argued they do not have to show direct payments to President Biden in order to demonstrate corruption.

U.S. Attorney David Weiss was appointed special counsel in the ongoing probe of the president's son Hunter Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday.

Weiss will be responsible for the “ongoing investigation" of President Joe Biden's son "as well as for any other matters that arose or may arise from that investigation," the Justice Department said in a statement. Weiss, who was already overseeing the Hunter Biden probe and is based in Delaware, asked to be appointed special counsel on Tuesday and Garland agreed it was "in the public interest" to do so, the attorney general said.

The move was announced shortly before prosecutors from Weiss's team revealed in a court filing the plea talks over tax and gun charges against the president's son had broken down and the case would likely have to go to trial in California or Washington, D.C.

DOJ noted that Weiss was nominated by then-President Donald Trump in 2017 and confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate in 2018.

In a statement, Hunter Biden's lawyer Chris Clark said, "Whether in Delaware, Washington, D.C. or anywhere else, we expect a fair resolution on behalf of our client."

He said Weiss "has diligently been investigating my client for five years and he had proposed a resolution which we fully intend to pursue in court. It is hard to see why he would have proposed such a resolution if there were other offenses he could have successfully prosecuted, and we are aware of none. We are confident when all of these maneuverings are at an end, my client will have resolution and will be moving on with his life successfully."

Two sources familiar with the situation told NBC News the White House had no advance notice of the special counsel appointment.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the chair of the House Oversight Committee who's been investigating the Biden family's business dealings, blasted Weiss's appointment as "part of the Justice Department's efforts to attempt a Biden family coverup."

"The Biden Justice Department is trying to stonewall congressional oversight as we have presented evidence to the American people about the Biden family’s corruption," Comer said.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, also ripped the appointment despite previously calling for a special counsel.

In a July 25 letter to House Republicans, Weiss offered to publicly testify before Congress in late September or early October.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., echoed Comer and Jordan, tweeting, "This action by Biden’s DOJ cannot be used to obstruct congressional investigations or whitewash the Biden family corruption. If Weiss negotiated the sweetheart deal that couldn’t get approved, how can he be trusted as a Special Counsel?"

Weiss was nominated by then-President Donald Trump in 2017 and started his post as U.S. attorney in Delaware in 2018. The position followed stints as the acting and interim U.S. attorney there, along with first assistant U.S. attorney, according to his DOJ biography.

Weiss is one of the few U.S. attorneys who stayed in place when President Joe Biden came into office. He will continue in that position as he takes on the additional special counsel role, Garland said. U.S. attorneys are the head federal prosecutors for their area.

Despite being nominated by Trump, Weiss has not been exempt from the former president's ire.

"If this special counsel is truly independent — even though he failed to bring proper charges after a four year investigation and he appears to be trying to move the case to a more Democrat-friendly venue — he will quickly conclude that Joe Biden, his troubled son Hunter, and their enablers, including the media, which colluded with the 51 intelligence officials who knowingly misled the public about Hunter’s laptop, should face the required consequences," a Trump spokesperson said in a statement.

Weiss started his career in 1984 clerking for Justice Andrew D. Christie on the Delaware Supreme Court, according to his biography on the Justice Department's website. He has also spent time in the private sector at the firms Duane Morris and The Siegfried Group.