“[The Devon Archer testimony] completely absolves Joe Biden of any involvement in Hunter Biden’s business world.”
—Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), in an interview after the testimony of Hunter Biden business associate Devon Archer in front of a panel of the House Oversight Committee
“Devon Archer confirmed Joe Biden was ‘the brand’ that his son sold around the world to enrich the Biden family. What were the Bidens selling? Nothing but access and influence to the highest levels of government.”
—A tweet by Rep. James Comer (R-KY) after the testimony
It’s a sign of the state of American politics that the phrase “Biden crime family” is part of public discourse these days. Things seem dialed up to a level of grotesque parody, no matter which perspective you take on them.
This past week, a transcript of testimony that Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s erstwhile business partner, gave to some members of the House Oversight Committee last Monday was released. That transcript was made to clear up the competing claims by Republican and Democratic members of the committee about what Archer said, and it turned out that neither of the two sides making claims about the testimony came out looking quite accurate.
The phrase “Biden crime family” disguises the fact that no one really cares about the “family” part of the phrase. The alleged Biden crime family, to be clear, includes Hunter Biden, his uncle James Biden, perhaps his deceased brother’s widow, Hallie Biden—and the current president of the United States, Joe Biden. But people really only care about one of them. Accusations of wrongdoing in regard to the “Biden crime family” have been intended either to cause Joe Biden to lose the coming election or, perhaps more cynically, simply to cause him severe pain by making him see his only living son go to prison.
But a point of great importance is whether Joe Biden actually participated in the illegal behaviors involving foreign governments and other actors that Hunter and company are alleged to have carried out. Using your father’s name and position to get money from foreigners may be extremely distasteful and border on corrupt, but it might not actually be illegal. However, if an elected official is involved in getting that money, it opens up the law books.
Exactly how much interaction Joe Biden had with Hunter Biden’s business ventures, both in China and Ukraine, was therefore a major focus of the questioning of Devon Archer, whom the Republicans touted as a major witness in their attempt to show Joe Biden as corrupt. Only with the release of the transcript did it become clear what his answers actually were.
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