DOJ asks to send Hunter Biden's associate to prison weekend before he's set to talk to Congress

The Justice Department is asking the Southern District Court of New York to set a date for former Hunter Biden business associate Devon Archer to surrender to prison more than a year after he was granted bail. 

The request comes as Archer is set to testify Monday before the House Oversight Committee.

Archer was granted bail pending an appeal of his conviction in April 2022 after he was sentenced in February 2022 to a year and a day in prison for his role in a scheme defrauding a Native American tribe. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed his conviction last month and again last week. 

"In light of the foregoing, the Government respectfully requests that the defendant be ordered to surrender, at a date and time determined by the Court, to a facility designated by the Bureau of Prisons to commence his term of imprisonment," the Justice Department wrote to the New York federal court Saturday in a letter obtained by Fox News.

Archer's counsel, Matthew Schwartz, said he "believes it is premature to set a report date in light of his anticipated continuing appeal and newly-discovered sentencing error that the government has now conceded." His counsel will file a response to the government on Wednesday.

Schwartz said that his client will testify as planned despite suggestions the DOJ letter was an attempt to intimidate Archer.

“We are aware of speculation that the Department of Justice’s weekend request to have Mr. Archer report to prison is an attempt by the Biden administration to intimidate him in advance of his meeting with the House Oversight Committee,” Schwartz said in a statement, according to Politico.

“To be clear, Mr. Archer does not agree with that speculation,” Schwartz added. “In any case, Mr. Archer will do what he has planned to do all along, which is to show up on Monday and to honestly answer the questions that are put to him by the Congressional investigators.”

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., said on Fox that Archer "has an opportunity to be a hero" when he testifies Monday. "He has an opportunity to come tomorrow to the House Oversight Committee and tell the truth.”

"My hat's off to Devon Archer when he shows up tomorrow. I know it's tough. I know he's been intimidated by the Biden legal team, but hopefully he saw what happened in that courtroom in Delaware last week. And there are good people in the justice system," he said, referring to how Hunter Biden's plea deal was put on hold last week.

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