House Republicans have subpoenaed Hunter Biden’s former business partner to obtain records for his lucrative foreign business dealings.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R., Ohio.) issued subpoenas on Thursday for “records in the possession, custody, or control” of Hunter Biden’s former business partner and close friend Devon Archer.
“The Oversight and Judiciary Committees are subpoenaing certain records in the possession, custody, or control of Devon Archer that are relevant to the impeachment inquiry,” the chairmen wrote in a subpoena cover letter obtained by National Review.
“The Committees are also concerned about the national security implications of a President’s or Vice President’s immediate family members receiving millions of dollars from foreign nationals or companies without any oversight,” the letter adds. The impeachment inquiry is primarily focused on the role Joe Biden appears to have played in Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings during and after his vice presidency.
Comer and Jordan are seeking records from various business entities connected to Rosemont Seneca Partners, the investment firm Archer and Hunter Biden co-founded. The pair were both board members for Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings and made millions of dollars in the process. Bank records indicate Burisma’s payments to Archer and Biden throughout 2014 and 2015 flowed into Rosemont Seneca Bohai, one of the entities mentioned in the subpoena cover letter.
House Republicans are also requesting documents related to Biden family members and numerous former business associates of Archer and Hunter Biden, including Burisma head Mykola Zlochevsky and Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina.
“Devon Archer continues to cooperate in all legitimate investigations. He is happy to provide documents to Congressional investigators and to testify publicly under oath, and is working with House staff to make that happen,” Archer’s attorney Matthew L. Schwartz told National Review.
Schwartz is the chairman-elect and managing partner of corporate law firm Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, which formerly employed Hunter Biden.
In March, Archer declined to testify publicly next to two of Hunter Biden’s former business partners, Jason Galanis and Tony Bobulinski, to discuss the Biden family’s business enterprise. Both businessmen testified about Joe Biden’s apparent involvement in negotiations with his son’s foreign business partners.
Galanis claimed Joe Biden participated in phone calls with his son’s Chinese and Russian business partners to help close out potential deals. Archer’s name appears in emails Galanis produced to the committees to substantiate his testimony. Galanis is currently serving a lengthy prison sentence for his involvement in a fraudulent bond issuance scheme. Archer faces a year and a day in prison for playing a role in the bond scheme.
Bobulinski recalled meeting Hunter, James, and Joe Biden in May 2017 during negotiations with Chinese infrastructure company CEFC. He accused Hunter Biden and his uncle James of lying under oath and called for Joe Biden’s impeachment over the Biden family’s foreign business dealings. House Republicans did not list Bobulinski in the subpoena cover letter, and he does not appear to have had any relationship with Archer.
Last summer, Archer delivered explosive testimony on the Biden family’s foreign business dealings and how Joe Biden interacted with his son’s business partners.
Archer recalled that then-Vice President Joe Biden attended two dinners at Cafe Milano, a high-end Washington, D.C. eatery, where he met his son’s foreign business partners, one in 2014 and another in 2015. Joe Biden also got coffee with Hunter Biden’s Chinese business partner, Jonathan Li, in Beijing. Archer estimated that Joe Biden spoke to his son’s business partners on speakerphone roughly 20 times throughout his relationship with Hunter Biden.
During his closed-door testimony, Archer said an entity called “Alixpartners” holds documents from his time at Rosemont Seneca. Schwartz appeared to interject and clarify that Boies Schiller is in possession of some relevant documents.
Hunter Biden confirmed significant aspects of Archer’s testimony, including the meeting with Li and Joe Biden’s presence at the 2015 dinner attended by Burisma corporate secretary Vadim Pozharskyi and Kazakh oligarch Kenes Rakishev.
Joe Biden has denied ever speaking with his son’s business partners.