Archer: Joe Biden fired prosecutor investigating Burisma for corruption because the company was paying Hunter for protection
By bellecarter // 2023-08-03
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Presidential son Hunter Biden's former business partner and close friend testified before the Republican-led House Oversight Committee and admitted that the younger Biden used then-Vice President Joe Biden's "brand" while working for the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. According to lawmakers who were present during Monday's closed-door questioning, 49-year-old Devon Archer told them that at a meeting in Dubai on Dec. 4, 2015, Burisma's owner Mykola Zlochevsky and top-tier official Vadym Pozharski asked him and Hunter for help and protection. Archer further detailed that the private oil and gas company executives wanted to get Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating the company for corruption, fired. Archer also disclosed to the Congressional investigators that Hunter put Zlochevsky and Pozharski on a call with "D.C." He claimed, though, that he was not part of the phone call so he couldn't possibly know who exactly was on the other end of the line. "The witness indicated that Hunter spoke to his father every day and Hunter may have put his father on the phone with any number of different people, and they never once spoke about any business dealings," Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) told reporters. He said that included times when the younger Biden was with friends. There were also times when he was with "potential business partners or business partners." But Joe Biden did meet and speak more than 20 times with various business associates who were paying for access to the Biden family, Archer admitted. During the same time, Burisma was paying Archer and Hunter as much as $83,000 a month to serve on its board, "despite the fact that neither man had relevant experience or expertise for the job." Their employment also took place the same month that the U.K. had opened an investigation into company officials. Could this be a timely coincidence? It was not until five days after the Dubai meeting and phone call. At this time, the U.S. Vice President gave a speech to the Ukrainian' parliament in Kyiv called Rada, attempting to lay the groundwork for firing Shokin. Then after a few months, the prosecutor got fired and Joe Biden even bragged about it in a public speech back in January 2018. He claimed that he was personally responsible for getting that firing accomplished so quickly. He even said how he had bullied the Ukrainian government into firing the investigator by threatening to withhold a billion-dollar loan guarantee unless he got what he wanted. "And I was supposed to announce that there was another billion-dollar loan guarantee. And I had gotten a commitment from Poroshenko and from Yatsenyuk that they would take action against the state prosecutor. And they didn't… I said, nah, I'm not going to or, we're not going to give you the billion dollars," he said during his appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent, "nonpartisan member organization" and think tank. He said that at first Kyiv would not believe him because he did not have authority as he was not the president. "I said, call him… I'm telling you, you're not getting the billion dollars. I'm going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours… If the prosecutor is not fired, you're not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch, he got fired," he proudly said.

Hunter gave his "clients" an illusion of access to the "Big Guy"

For months, Republican lawmakers have been alleging that the president was actually involved in his son's business dealings. The White House has repeatedly denied this. According to Goldman, Archer told the panel that Biden felt he had to give his employers the "illusion of access to his father." He also "stated unequivocally" that "there is no evidence in his possession or his knowledge that Joe Biden ever discussed business with Hunter, Joe ever did anything on behalf of Hunter Biden's business interests or otherwise, never changed official policy in any way, shape or form." Meanwhile, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) 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 a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informant. The House Republicans previously released a copy of an unclassified FBI-generated record alleging the bribing scheme to Biden. According to the FBI FD-1023 form, Zlochevsky was "coerced" into sending money to Joe and Hunter. (Related: BRIBERY BIDEN: FBI form reveals Burisma founder Mykola Zlochevsky was forced to send Bidens money.) As per the newest evidence, Zlochevsky and the confidential human source (CHS) reportedly went into a phone call after the 2016 presidential election, in which the former claimed he was "pushed to pay" the Bidens. He claimed he did not want to send the money. Meanwhile, Zlochevsky said he has many text messages and 'recordings' that would prove that he was coerced to make the payments. The form also cited that the former minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine had a total of "17 recordings" involving the Bidens including two featuring Joe while the other 15 allegedly only feature Hunter. Discover more about the Biden family's illegal international business dealings on BidenCrimeFamily.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheFederalist.com RealClearPolitics.com NBCNews.com DailyCaller.com
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