Hunter Biden's former business partner reveals Trump Justice Department blueprint he wants to see after last-minute pardon

First broadcast on FOX: President Hunter Biden's longtime friend and business partner says he wants the Trump Justice Department to act after Biden announced on Sunday that he would grant his son a full pardon. Revealed the photo.

Devon Archer, who served with Hunter on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, said he is looking to the future and is optimistic about the Trump Justice Department. When Fox News Digital asked Archer about Biden's pardons, he declined to discuss them, instead calling for the Trump Justice Department to be “an impartial institution again.”

Archer told Fox News Digital: “I hope the Trump administration will return the Justice Department to an agency that reflects the founding principles of the judiciary and abides by the same federal laws it was created on July 1, 1870. ” he said.

“The Department of Justice needs to become an impartial institution again, rather than being driven by personal or political agendas as it has been in recent years,” he continued.

President Trump expects Biden to pardon son Hunter

Archer is facing his own legal troubles related to a criminal conviction for allegedly engaging in defrauding a Native American tribe. A federal judge sentenced Archer to prison in 2018 after a jury convicted him of defrauding the tribe by fraudulently issuing $60 million in tribal bonds.

However, according to Reuters, Archer's conviction was thrown out in late 2018 by U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams in Manhattan because “abiding concerns remained that Mr. Archer was innocent of the crimes with which he was charged.” .

Archer's conviction was later reversed by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals a month before the 2020 election, and he was sentenced to one year and one day in prison in February 2022.

Devon Archer (left) and Hunter Biden (right) (Fox News)

Despite the verdict, Archer's attorney, Matthew Schwartz, maintains his innocence and says he intends to file a series of appeals, delaying Archer's sentence.

“Mr Archer is clearly disappointed with today's verdict and intends to appeal. The judge has previously expressed concern that Mr Archer is innocent of the charges he has been charged with and reiterated that view today. “It is unfortunate that she felt restrained from being sentenced,” Schwartz said in February 2022. “We will act based on an independent evaluation of the evidence.”

President Biden announced Sunday that he had pardoned his son Hunter Biden after he was convicted in two separate federal cases earlier this year.

The announcement was made by the White House on Sunday night. The pardon applies to crimes against the United States that Hunter Biden “committed or may have committed” between January 1, 2014 and December 1, 2024. The decade-long period also covers Hunter's tenure at Burisma, as well as several other shady foreign transactions.

“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” Biden said in a statement. “From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere in the decision-making of the Department of Justice, and I kept that promise even as I watched my son be selectively and unfairly prosecuted.”

'It's a step backwards': Democrats criticize Biden over Hunter pardon

US President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden (left) and his wife Melissa Cohen leave the court after pleading guilty in a tax evasion trial in Los Angeles, California, on September 5, 2024. (Robin Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

Hunter Biden's pardon infuriated Republicans who have long argued that his business dealings from when his father was vice president were not legal.

Archer spoke before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee last year, detailing Joe and Hunter Biden's business relationship.

Archer said Biden called to promote his “brand,” according to a transcript of the hearing. Those calls included a dinner in Paris with a French energy company and a dinner in China with Jonathan Li of state private equity firm BHR Partners.

Hunter Biden's former business associate Devon Archer testified in a closed-door hearing in 2023 (Fox News)

Archer also testified that there was value in adding Hunter Biden to the Burisma board as a “brand,” a source previously told Fox News Digital. The argument was that then-Vice President Joe Biden brought the most value. Archer also said that Ukrainian energy company Burisma would have gone bankrupt without its “brand.”

Archer's testimony contradicts the president, his 2020 campaign staff and White House aides who have claimed at least 20 times that Biden “never discussed” his business dealings with his son Hunter. It was a complete contradiction.

Democrats have maintained that Hunter Biden did nothing wrong with his business and that the president defended his son in Sunday's statement.

WASHINGTON DC – JULY 31: Hunter Biden's former business associate Devon Archer. ((Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images))

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“Absent an aggravating factor, such as use in a crime, multiple purchases, or purchasing a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never tried for a felony just because of how they filled out a gun application,” Biden said. No,” he said. “Non-criminal resolutions are typically available for people who missed paying their taxes due to severe addiction, but then repaid them with interest and penalties. It's clear Hunter was treated differently. ”

Biden also cited his son's struggle with addiction and blamed the unraveling of Hunter's plea deal on “raw politics.”

“Efforts have been made to break Hunter's five-and-a-half years of sobriety in the face of relentless attacks and selective prosecution,” his 82-year-old father wrote. “In trying to break Hunter, they tried to break me too—and there's no reason to believe it'll stop here. Enough is enough.”

“I hope the American people understand why my father and president came to this decision,” Biden's statement concluded.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton and Joe Schoffstall contributed to this report