Hunter Biden's Former Partner Talks, Both Sides Claim Victory

Hunter Biden's former business partner insisted in testimony to Congress on Monday that President Biden was never directly involved in their financial dealings, though Hunter would often put his famous father on speakerphone to impress clients and business associates, the AP reports. The Republican-led House Oversight Committee conducted a more than-five hour interview with Devon Archer as part of its expanding congressional inquiry into the Biden family businesses as the GOP explores a potential impeachment inquiry into the president. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers inside the closed-door interview said Archer testified that over the span of 10 years, Hunter Biden put his father on the phone around 20 times while in the company of associates but "never once spoke about any business dealings."

New York Rep. Dan Goldman, who was representing Democrats inside the room, told reporters after the interview that Archer testified that Hunter sold the "illusion of access" to his father by taking credit for things his father did as vice president that he had no part in. But Rep. Andy Biggs, a Republican member of the Oversight Committee, came out of the interview saying that testimony implicated the president directly. "I think we should do an impeachment inquiry," the Arizona lawmaker told reporters. Biggs, reading from his notes, said Archer testified that the Ukrainian gas company "Burisma would have gone out of business sooner if the Biden brand had not been invoked. People would be intimidated to legally mess with Burisma because of the Biden family brand."

Archer, who served with Hunter Biden on the board of Burisma, has long been seen by Republicans as a key witness in their search to directly connect the president to his son's various international business transactions. The White House, however, saw the testimony as a falling short of House Republicans' promise to deliver "bombshell evidence." "It appears that the 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," Ian Sams, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement. (More on the testimony and the reactions to it here.)