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The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Monday an appeal from a former Hunter Biden business partner who sought to overturn a criminal conviction for securities fraud, The Associated Press reported.
As is customary, the Supreme Court Justices declined to provide comments and upheld a federal appeals court decision that reinstated the fraud conviction of Devon Archer. Previously, a lower court judge had set aside a jury verdict that found Archer guilty of fraud and ordered a new trial, the AP noted.
The decision marked the second time the nation’s highest court rejected an appeal from Archer.
Hunter Biden was not directly engaged in the attempt to defraud the Oglala Sioux Indian tribe in a scheme related to the sale of bonds. However, individuals involved in the fraud invoked his name in an attempt to bolster their credibility, as indicated by court records, the report said.
“Archer was convicted in 2018. His conviction was overturned later that year before the court of appeals in New York reinstated it in 2020,” The AP reported. “Biden and Archer had been business partners, and both served on the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma.”
Jim Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, claimed last month that a recent statement by Hunter Biden sheds a different light on the House’s investigation into the president and his son. Jordan pointed out that the younger Biden clarified that his father was not “financially” involved.
Jordan stated that the president’s previous statements—in which he claimed he was completely uninvolved—are different from the current one and that the difference between “no involvement” and “no financial involvement” is “important.”
“Again, remember the pattern,” Jordan said on Fox News’s America’s Newsroom. “Initially, Joe Biden said, ‘I had no involvement whatsoever, none at all, with my son’s business.’ This summer, when we deposed Devon Archer, one of Hunter Biden’s business partners, the story changed: ‘Well, there were dinners, there were meetings, there were phone calls, but we just talked about the weather. There was no business talk.’ Now it’s to say ‘he wasn’t involved financially.’”
The Ohio congressman said that the “fundamental question” was what Hunter Biden was offering to his foreign business partners and that what the younger Biden had been offering was “access” to the then-vice president, “the guy who had influence.”
Jordan’s remarks came after Hunter Biden defied a lawfully issued subpoena issued by the Republican-controlled Congress to appear at a closed-door deposition, setting up a potential legal showdown as his father, President Joe Biden, campaigns for a second term.
Fox News reported that Hunter refused to comply with the subpoena issued by the House Oversight Committee and instead held a press conference where he offered again to testify publicly, which is not standard congressional procedure. He ripped “MAGA” Republicans who have “invaded” his privacy, “attacked” his family, and “ridiculed my struggle with addiction.”
“They belittled my recovery, and they have tried to dehumanize me, all to embarrass my father, who has devoted his entire life to public service,” the president’s son said. “For six years, I have been a target of the unrelenting Trump attack team. ‘Where’s Hunter?’ Well, here’s my answer. I am here.”
He added that “my father was not financially involved in my business,” noting that Joe was not involved in his dealings with Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings or his Chinese investments as well as others throughout the world and the U.S.
“No evidence to support that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen,” Hunter Biden said.
Hunter Biden refuses to comply with @JamesComer‘s subpoena to be deposed behind closed doors and demands a public hearing so he can tell sob stories on TV.
Reminder that Don Jr. testified behind closed doors for over 40 hours about the Russia hoax.
Hold him in contempt! pic.twitter.com/1FoJB06zyX
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) December 13, 2023