The Department of Justice requested that a federal judge set Devon Archer's prison sentence to begin sometime after his congressional testimony on Monday, shutting down Republican claims the department was attempting to interfere with the testimony.
The DOJ issued the request as a clarification to a notice it sent to Judge Ronnie Abrams of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York one day prior asking that Abrams set a date for Archer, Hunter Biden's former business partner, to report to jail for crimes on an unrelated matter.
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"To be clear, the Government does not request (and has never requested) that the defendant surrender before his Congressional testimony," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York wrote to Abrams on Sunday.
The office also indicated it would have likely been impossible for Archer to miss his testimony for jail because coordination with the Bureau of Prisons "can take several weeks or months."
"Nonetheless, for the avoidance of all doubt, the Government requests that any surrender date, should the Court order one, be scheduled to occur after the defendant’s Congressional testimony is completed," the office added.
The clarification came after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) accused the DOJ on social media of "actively committing the crime of obstructing a congressional investigation" because the department asked the judge to set a surrender date for Archer two days before he was set to appear for a highly anticipated testimony with the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
The committee has identified Archer, who served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company with Biden, as a crucial witness to the Biden family's business dealings.
The department's request for Archer's prison surrender came in response to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denying an appeal Archer made and affirming his conviction and sentencing on July 25.
Archer was sentenced last year to serve a year in prison and pay nearly $44 million in restitution after he was found guilty of participating in a scheme to defraud a Native American tribe of bond proceeds worth tens of millions of dollars.
After Gaetz claimed the DOJ's prison surrender request was "obstruction," several other Republicans from the House Judiciary Committee joined in.
They included Reps. Mike Johnson (R-LA), Harriet Hageman (R-WY), Dan Bishop (R-NC), and Chip Roy (R-TX), who all said they would return to Washington for hearings on the matter.
Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) did not go as far as to accuse the DOJ of obstructing Archer's testimony but did call the timing of the department's request "odd."
"It's odd that it was issued on a Saturday, and it's odd that it's right before he's scheduled to come in. ... I don't know if this is a coincidence, Maria, or if this is another example of the weaponization of the Department of Justice," Comer told Fox News's Maria Bartiromo on Sunday.
Archer's attorney Matthew Schwartz said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner on Monday that Archer "believes strongly in the rule of law and the democratic system, and is prepared to answer the Committee’s questions" just as he has for other federal investigators in the past.
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He rejected the claims from Gaetz and the others about DOJ obstruction or interference.
"We are aware of speculation that the Department of Justice’s weekend request to have Mr. Archer report to prison is an attempt by the Biden administration to intimidate him in advance of his meeting with the House Oversight Committee today," Schwartz said. "To be clear, Mr. Archer does not agree with that speculation."