Son puts Biden in Republican impeachment crosshairs

Devon Archer said Hunter Biden would routinely put his father on speaker phone in front of foreign business executives.

Devon Archer after testifying at the Capitol on Monday. Picture: AFP

Republicans have seized as grounds for impeachment revelations Joe Biden as vice-president twice dined at a restaurant in Washington with his son and executives from Ukrainian energy company Burisma as evidence he lied about his knowledge of Hunter Biden’s business activities.

Republican James Comer, the chairman of the House of Representatives oversight committee, released a transcript of testimony by former Hunter Biden business associate, Devon Archer, on Thursday (Friday AEST), which suggested the younger Biden’s ­lucrative position on the board of Burisma might have stemmed from his access to his father.

“Burisma would have gone out of business if it didn’t have the [Biden family] brand attached to it,” Mr Archer said, claiming “people would be intimidated to mess with (the Bidens) … legally.”

Mr Archer said Hunter, whom Republicans claim was selling ­access to his father to Chinese and Ukrainian companies, had put Joe Biden on speaker phone about 20 times when in business meetings.

“I think it was, you know, a signal that they respected and thought was of value,” he said.  For months Republicans have sought to link the President, who has repeatedly denied any knowledge of his son’s dealings, to Hunter’s foreign business roles and the multimillion-dollar payments made to Biden family accounts from foreign entities over years.

Mr Archer revealed that Burisma, which at the time was paying Hunter $US83,000 a month, had requested he seek “help from DC” with the company’s legal problems, knowing that the Obama ­administration had significant economic leverage over Kyiv.

“Devon Archer’s testimony confirms Joe Biden lied when he said he had no knowledge about his son’s business dealings and was not involved,” Mr Comer said.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last month foreshadowed a impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, which would draw together evidence from Internal Revenue ­Service whistleblowers, bank records, and uncorroborated FBI analysis the Biden family had been bribed by Burisma.

“It’s not an illusion when the vice-president of the United States shows up to dinner with Hunter Biden and the executives of Burisma,” Republican senator Josh Hawley told Fox News. “This shows everything Biden has said in the White House was a lie.”

Democrats argued the phone calls were of a generic nature “about the weather” and unrelated to Hunter’s businesses. “The witness was unequivocal and stated very clearly that they never discussed any business on phone conversations,” said Democrat congressman Dan Goldman, who heard the testimony.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean Pierre last month changed the form of words she had been using to brush off questions about Mr Biden’s probity, saying he had “never been in business with his son” whereas earlier she claimed the President had had no knowledge of his dealings.