Archer lawyer interrupted, redirected testimony from client before House panel, transcript shows

Devin Archer, Hunter Biden's former business associate, was repeatedly interrupted by his own lawyer during his testimony before a House panel this week, the official transcript shows.

Archer, who is represented by attorney Matthew Schwartz of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, testified before members of the House Oversight Committee. Schwartz at times finished questions asked of Archer, and at other points directly asked Archer questions to apparently redirect his client’s response.

According to the full transcript, Archer was asked: "Does anything in your knowledge or experience contradict the conclusion that 'there was no corruption, wrongdoing, or impropriety on the part of Vice President Biden'?" In response, he said: "I have no basis to know."

New York Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman said to Archer: "I'm sorry. You have no basis to know or is that a no?"

Archer replied, saying, "I would have no idea."

His lawyer jumped in and asked: "Are you aware of any wrongdoing by Vice President Biden?"

"No, I'm not aware of any," Archer replied.

At a different portion of the interview, Archer was asked if he was ever made aware of "Mr. Zlochevsky paying $5 million to two different Bidens."

"No, I'm not. I would assume he's probably talking about me and Hunter," he said. "But I don't know anything about those five."

He was also asked: "Based on your knowledge, including your work for Burisma's board, your conversations with Hunter Biden, Mykola Zlochevsky, and others at Burisma, does this allegation strike you as credible, meaning the allegation that there were two $5 million payments to two Bidens?"

He said that "the agent explains it pretty well on the bottom and it's similar to, you know, Hunter Biden taking credit for his dad's visit. It's like sending a signal."

The questioner followed up, asking, "So he's bragging to this guy that they paid, you know, where he probably paid $5 million or whatever, $6 million altogether, you know, so that, you know, just to show he's -- well, there's a lot of -- and he explains it. I forget. There's a word in the document."

Schwartz, Archer's lawyer, interrupted the questioning, saying, "You're guessing."

"Are you aware of a $5 million payment?" a member of the committee's counsel asked.

Archer said no and Schwartz spontaneously cross-examined his client to elicit a specific answer, asking Archer, "To one Biden and a $5 million payment to another?"

"No," Archer responded.

Later, Archer is asked about Hunter Biden "liking to project this image, this illusion, of access to his father."

Archer replied, "Uh-huh."

He was asked, "Was this just part of his effort to say, 'Hey, I'm Joe Biden's son, and I talk to Joe Biden a lot'?"

Schwartz jumped in again and said: "If you know. I mean, don't speculate about what --"

Archer responded in the transcript, saying, "Right. I don't want to speculate about what he was thinking but I think it's just, you know, just common sense and, you know, that it's the brand and that's the value and -- yeah."

In a statement to Just the News, Schwartz suggested his interruptions were needed to deal with the politics of the probe.

"The Committee members and staffers who questioned Mr. Archer had their own political and legislative agendas,” he said. “Mr. Archer's only agenda was to show up and tell the truth. From time to time, I interrupted the questioning of others -- both Democrats and Republicans -- or posed questions of my own to ensure that the truth came out in Mr. Archer's interview."

Elsewhere in the transcript, Schwartz warned Archer not to "get into the subject matter of your interviews with law enforcement."

Later on, following a break in the testimony, Schwartz stepped out of the role of a lawyer and acted as a witness himself, finishing Archer's answer for him.

Archer was asked: "Before the break, you were asked a question along the lines of, was Hunter Biden selling access to his father or was he selling the appearance of access to his father? Do you recall that question?"

Archer replied in the affirmative and then Schwartz again jumped in with his own question:

"My question is, was it that Hunter Biden was creating the appearance of access to his father or that he was creating the appearance of access to Washington, D.C.?"

Mr. Archer said that "it was the overall, it's the appearance to all of D.C."

Schwartz interjected further: “And part of his perceived value-add was the ability to navigate Washington --"

"Right," said Archer.

"And access to various people and --" Schwartz said.

Archer followed up, saying, "He spent a career in D.C., and he carried the Biden name. So I think that's -- that's it."