WASHINGTON D.C. – At Devon Archer’s hearing with the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability on July 31, committee counsel James Mandolfo questioned him about Edwardsville attorney and entrepreneur Jeffrey Cooper.
Mandolfo dropped a long line of questions about Hunter Biden before asking, “And who is Jeffrey Cooper?”
According to the House’s transcript, Archer said, “He was the founder of Eudora Global which was a firm that Hunter Biden had some equity.”
“When was the last time you talked with Jeff Cooper?” Mandolfo asked.
“Jeff Cooper is a dear friend of mine,” Archer responded.
“And so when was the last time you talked with him?” Mandolfo asked.
Archer’s counsel Matthew Schwartz said, “After April 2016.”
Mandolfo then changed the subject.
Minutes later he added, “I just have one question about Jeff Cooper.”
“It falls within. Even though it’s April 2016, he’s a Biden associate,” he said.
Mandolfo asked Archer whether any Biden associates, including Cooper or anyone from the Biden administration, communicated with him in any manner regarding the committee’s investigation.
Archer said, “No, no, no.”
The committee then took a break; and after it, they changed the subject.
Cooper operates Eudora Global and other companies out of Edwardsville. He declined to comment on the Oversight Committee's questions.
Archer was indicted on fraud charges in 2016, ending his partnership with Hunter Biden.
Jurors found Archer guilty in 2018.
Prior to that, he briefly worked for Cooper.
During his pending sentencing appeal, Archer was traveling the world on business. However, Cooper told the Record that Archer was not traveling on behalf of any of his companies, saying he does not know where Archer is currently working.
Xin Wang of BHR Equity Investment Fund in Beijing - who serves on the board of Cooper's ePlata company - sent a character reference to District Judge Ronnie Abrams.
She claimed Archer’s involvement was an unfortunate result of grievously misplaced trust.
Abrams provided greater relief than a light sentence when she granted Archer a second trial.
The government appealed.
In 2020, Second Circuit appellate judges in New York City overturned Abrams’s decision and ordered her to sentence Archer.
Last year, Abrams sentenced Archer for a year and a day.
He appealed his conviction and his sentence to Second Circuit judges, who affirmed Abrams this May, denied rehearing in June, and issued their mandate in July.
Archer advised the government that he’d seek review at the U.S. Supreme Court.
At Archer’s deposition with the oversight committee, Mandolfo asked how the relationship between Hunter Biden and Archer and Ukrainian energy company Burisma started.
Archer said he flew to Warsaw and met former Polish president Kwasniewski, who asked him if he was interested in joining the board.
He said they hired Hunter Biden as counsel; and after about two months, there was a meeting he wasn’t privy to where it was decided Hunter Biden should have a board role.
Mandolfo asked if the pay was $1 million per year, and Archer said it was.
“It wasn’t just sitting there and going to board meetings but there was a lot of work that was done,” he said.
Mandolfo read a message from Hunter Biden to Archer in 2014, stating, “The announcement of my guy’s upcoming travels should be characterized as part of our advice and thinking but what he will say and do is out of our hands.”
He asked if Hunter Biden referred to his dad as "my guy," and Archer said he believed so.
Mandolfo asked what it meant, and Archer said, “I can’t guide my father in what he’s going to do on this trip but let’s get credit for it.”
Mandolfo asked what kind of credit, and Archer said, “He was getting paid a lot of money and I think he wanted to show value.”
Mandolfo asked if Hunter Biden talked about how his dad would add value in the eyes of Burisma officials, and Archer said it’s pretty obvious.
He said Hunter Biden wouldn’t say they’d use his dad but, “given the brand I think he would look to get the leverage from it.”
Mandolfo asked if Hunter Biden put his father on speaker phone in these interactions, and Archer said occasionally at dinners.
“You have to understand that there was no business conversation about a cap table or a fee or anything like that,” he said.
Archer said it was general niceties and conversation.
Mandolfo asked if it would be odd for him to call his dad right now and put him on speaker phone, and Archer said it would be odd.
Mandolfo also asked if it would be odd in a professional meeting with foreign business leaders.
“It’s quite obvious what we’re talking around,” Archer said.
“You are talking around it,” Mandolfo responded.
“I think at the end of the day part of what was delivered is the brand,” Archer said.
Representative Biggs asked Archer if Hunter Biden indicated the Chinese anticipated that after his father was out of office he might join one of their companies as a paid advisor.
“I don’t recall but, potentially,” he said.
“It’s not new to you is what you’re saying,” Biggs said.
“It’s not new to me,” Archer said.
Oversight committee chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) responded to Archer's comments that Joe Biden served as "the brand."
“Devon Archer’s testimony today confirms Joe Biden lied to the American people when he said he had no knowledge about his son’s business dealings and was not involved," Comer stated. "Joe Biden was ‘the brand’ that his son sold around the world to enrich the Biden family. When Joe Biden was Vice President of the United States, he joined Hunter Biden’s dinners with his foreign business associates in person or by speakerphone over 20 times. When Burisma’s owner was facing pressure from the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating the company for corruption, Archer testified that Burisma executives asked Hunter to ‘call D.C.’ after a Burisma board meeting in Dubai."
“Why did Joe Biden lie to the American people about his family’s business dealings and his involvement? It begs the question what else he is hiding from the American people," Comer added. "The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability will continue to follow the Bidens’ money trail and interview witnesses to determine whether foreign actors targeted the Bidens, President Biden is compromised and corrupt, and our national security is threatened.”