Trump pardons former Hunter Biden business associate Devon Archer
President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned Devon Archer, Hunter Biden's former business associate with energy company Burisma Holdings.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned Hunter Biden's former business associate, Devon Archer.
"Many people have asked me to do this. They think he was treated very unfairly. And I looked at the records, studied the records, and he was a victim of a crime, as far as I'm concerned. So we're going to undo that. … Congratulations, Devon," Trump said on Tuesday ahead of signing the pardoning.
Archer was a business associate of former first son Hunter Biden at Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings.
He was convicted in 2018 of defrauding a native American tribe in a scheme that involved the issuance and sale of fraudulent tribal bonds. He was sentenced to just over a year in prison, but had his conviction overturned and then later reinstated in 2020. The Supreme Court rejected his appeal last year, leaving a prison sentence hanging in limbo until Trump's pardon. Hunter Biden was not involved with the scheme.
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Archer became a focal point of an investigation into the Biden family’s foreign business dealings, including testifying before the House Oversight Committee in 2023 on the Biden family's influence. He told the committee that Hunter Biden had put his father on speakerphone while he was with business associates up to 20 time to sell "the brand," but that the then-Vice President did not discuss business dealings directly.
The Biden White House maintained its innocence throughout the investigation, with the administration slamming Archer's testimony in 2023 as "failing to produce" evidence of President Joe Biden being involved with his son's business dealines.
Biden granted his son a sweeping pardon before exiting the Oval Office in January that protects Hunter Biden from offenses he "has committed or may have committed" from Jan. 1, 2014 to Dec. 1, 2024.
"We have a pardon for Devon Archer. Devon Archer was a former business partner of the Biden family," Trump political advisor William Scharf said ahead of Trump signing the pardon. "He was prosecuted relating to a fraud investigation, but notably, the tone and tenor of that prosecution changed dramatically after he began to cooperate with congressional investigators and serve as a witness against Hunter Biden and the Biden family."
"We believe that was an injustice. And therefore, we're asking you to pardon," Scharf added.
Trump previewed over the weekend that he would pardon Archer, arguing that the former businessman was "screwed by the Bidens."
"They destroyed him like they tried to destroy a lot of people," Trump said, according to the New York Post on Sunday.
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Archer met with Trump over the weekend at the NCAA wrestling championships in Philadelphia, where he said he received some "very encouraging words."
"I had gotten word from my attorney earlier that the president was discussing this, and he had acknowledged that he was going to do it," Archer said during an interview on "Jesse Watters Primetime," previewing the pardon.
Archer thanked Trump ahead of officially receiving the pardon on Tuesday, arguing he was "the victim of a convoluted lawfare effort."
"I want to extend my deepest thanks to President Trump," Archer said Sunday in a comment to the New York Post regarding the anticipated pardon. "I am grateful to the president for recognizing that I was the victim of a convoluted lawfare effort intended to destroy and silence me.
"Like so many people, my life was devastated by the Biden family’s selfish disregard for the truth and for the peace of mind and happiness of others. The Bidens talk about justice, but they don’t mean it," he said. "I am grateful that the American people are now well aware of this reality."
Fox News Digital's Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.
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