Trump pardons Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s ex-partner

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump pardoned Devon Archer, a former business partner of Hunter Biden, arguing that the judicial system treated him unfairly. Trump assured that before making his decision, he reviewed and studied all the records and concluded that "he was a victim of a crime."

Archer, who was Hunter Biden's partner in the Ukrainian company Burisma Holdings, was convicted in 2018 of fraud related to the sale of fraudulent tribal bonds to a Native American tribe. He was initially given a prison sentence of just over a year, but his conviction was overturned and later reinstated in 2020. The Supreme Court rejected his appeal last year, leaving his legal status uncertain until Trump's intervention.

Links to the Biden family investigation

Archer became a key figure in the congressional investigation into the Biden family's foreign business dealings. In 2023, he testified before the House Oversight Committee. He claimed that Hunter Biden placed his father on speakerphone on as many as 20 occasions while holding meetings with business associates to promote the Biden "brand." However, he clarified that then-Vice President Joe Biden did not directly discuss business.

The Biden administration defended the president, stating he was not involved in any illegal activity. They dismissed Archer's testimony at the time, arguing that he did not provide direct evidence of Joe Biden's involvement in his son's business dealings.

Trump's endorsement and criticism of the Bidens

William Scharf, a political adviser to Trump, explained that Archer was prosecuted in a fraud case but that the tone of the investigation changed dramatically when he began cooperating with Congress in the investigation into Hunter Biden. "We believe that was an injustice," he said.

Trump had advanced over the weekend that he would grant the pardon, arguing that Archer had been "destroyed" by the Biden family. "They destroyed him like they tried to destroy a lot of people," President Trump told the New York Post.

Archer, who met with Trump in Philadelphia during the NCAA wrestling championship, claimed he was already aware of the pardon possibility. "I had gotten word from my attorney earlier that the president was discussing this, and he had acknowledged that he was going to do it," he commented in a television interview before the move became official.

After receiving clemency, Archer expressed his gratitude to Trump and accused the Biden family of making him a victim of a "convoluted lawfare effort." "The Bidens talk about justice, but they don’t mean it," he declared. "I am grateful that the American people are now well aware of this reality."