In a significant rebuke to the Biden family, President Donald Trump on Tuesday granted an unconditional pardon to Devon Archer—a key witness who helped expose alleged criminal activities involving Hunter Biden, his brother James, a sister-in-law, and others who reportedly profited from lucrative foreign business deals.
The pardon, which largely went unnoticed amid major news about a separate Trump administration incident involving a liberal journalist being accidentally added to a secure communications channel, is notable for its impact. Archer played a pivotal role as a whistleblower, which spurred U.S. House Republicans to launch a wide-ranging investigation into the Biden family.
Trump stated that by signing the pardon, he believed Archer had been the victim of a “crime” and treated “very unfairly.” Archer had been facing up to a year in prison after being accused of defrauding a Native American tribe by fraudulently selling its members $60 million in bonds.
“Devon Archer was a former business partner of the Biden family. 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 him,” White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf told the president shortly before the signing.
The president responded: “And many people have asked me to do this. I 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.”
Speaking about the pardon, Archer, a former business associate of Hunter, told Fox News’ Jesse Watters that he never imagined having to ask President Trump for a pardon because President Biden and his son promised to “take care of him,” the anchor said in a report this week. Instead, “they were lobbying to put me in as the target and remove Hunter,” Archer told Watters, the Daily Caller reports. “I think it’s chronic of what that legal apparatus was and I certainly was a victim.”
For years, Archer and Hunter Biden conducted business abroad, hosting overseas oligarchs, royals, and influential businessmen while leveraging the Biden family name. On more than a dozen occasions, Hunter brought his father—the then-vice president—into meetings to showcase his ability to influence Washington, D.C. Investigations by House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) uncovered a network of shell companies that funneled proceeds from some of these transactions back to James Biden, the president’s brother, and his wife Sarah. A portion of these funds, totaling $40,000, was then transferred to the president’s personal bank account and labeled as a “loan repayment” from his brother.
