Connect with us

News

Jim Comer Isn’t Telling The Truth About Devon Archer’s Testimony – He Wasn’t Even in the Room When It Happened

Published

on

For months House Republican Oversight Committee Chairman Jim Comer has been making damning allegations about President Joe Biden, his son Hunter, and what Republicans now call the “Biden Crime Family,” while promising to produce evidence to back up his claims.

Chairman Comer has never proven President Biden has accepted any bribe, much less the $5 million bribe Republicans have repeatedly implied was offered and accepted.

On Monday, behind closed doors, Comer’s Oversight Committee heard testimony, not under oath but under penalty of perjury, from Hunter Biden’s former business partner, Devon Archer.

During the approximately four hours he testified, with his counsel present, Archer stated there was no bribe, and he had no knowledge of any bribe.

READ MORE: ‘I Need One More Indictment’: Trump Goes Off-the-Rails in Pre-Arraignment Rage

From the transcript released by the Oversight Committee on Thursday:

Mr. Schwartz. Are you aware of a $5 million payment —
Mr. Archer. No.
Mr. Schwartz. — to one Biden and a $5 million payment to another?
Mr. Archer. No.
Mr. Schwartz. You ever hear anything about that?
Mr. Archer. In that document.

That document is the now-infamous FD-1023 that U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released against the wishes of the Dept. of Justice, which took time to show it in a SCIF to several members of Congress.

It is essentially a transcribed record of a second-hand tip that has never been proven.

Moments later in the Archer testimony:

Q If someone were to conclude from this that this is evidence, this Form 1023 is evidence that Joe Biden was bribed by Mykola Zlochevsky, would you disagree with that conclusion?
A. Yeah, I would.

And still later:

Q In other words, it’s not that Hunter Biden was influencing U.S. policy. It’s that Hunter Biden was falsely giving the Burisma executives the impression that he had any influence over U.S. policy.
A I think that’s fair.

READ MORE: DeSantis’ Taxpayer-Funded Governor’s Office Hires Former Campaign Employees

Later:

Q. …Hunter Biden talked to his dad a lot. that right?
A. He talked to him every day.
Q. He was his son.
A. Correct.
Q. Father and son talked all the time.
A. Uh-huh.
Q. In 2015, in spring of 2015, Beau Biden died. Is that right?
A. That’s correct.
Q Did the frequency of interactions between Hunter Biden and his father increase after Beau Biden’s death?
A I would say yes.
Q Did Joe Biden regularly check in on his son who’s admitted he had issues with —
A Every day.
Q — drugs and other issues?
A Uh-huh.
Q. Yes?
A Yes. Sorry.
Q In the context of those conversations, did you ever witness them discussing the substance of Hunter Biden’s business?
A. No.

The Washington Post‘s Philip Bump on Thursday wrote, “Devon Archer said the opposite of what Republicans claimed.”

Bump explains that on Monday, shortly after the Devon Archer testimony concluded – testimony that Chairman Comer, according to the transcript, which recorded everyone present – did not attend: “testimony for which Comer wasn’t present,” as Bump writes, Comer and House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan appeared on Fox News for an interview with Sean Hannity.

“Archer’s testimony was enormously damaging to President Biden, they suggested, with House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) insisting that Archer’s testimony made the bribery allegation he’d first introduced two months ago ‘more credible.’ That allegation centered on the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, where Hunter Biden and Archer once sat on its board,” Bump writes.

As the transcript proves, Comer was not telling the truth.

Again, Archer said, the only time he had ever even heard a $5 million bribe was in there FD-1023, which was from an unnamed second-hand source.

“What Archer said not only doesn’t comport with the presentations made by Comer and Jordan on television (which were obviously wrong from the outset), his testimony undermines the idea that Burisma wanted Shokin fired, that Zlochevsky paid any bribe — and, crucially, that Joe Biden was involved in any of this,” Bump reveals.

“Archer severely undercut Republican claims about Hunter Biden’s interactions with his father,” he adds.

READ MORE: Hugh Hewitt Slammed After Major Meltdown Declaring Trump Indictment ‘Ought to Be Vomited Out’ of Court

“So,” Bump continues, “he was asked, did Hunter Biden ever ask his father to take official actions on behalf of his business partners? ‘He did not,’ Archer said. ‘He did not ask him — to my knowledge, I never saw him say, do anything for any particular business.'”

Bump then criticizes Comer.

“Consider the first words out of Comer’s mouth in that interview with Hannity: ‘Every day this bribery scandal becomes more credible.’ In fact, Archer’s testimony pointed precisely in the opposite direction.”

 

Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

‘They’re Coming After Our Children’: Watch Casey DeSantis’ Dystopian Fear-Mongering Ad

Published

on

The imagery is dark. The words are defiant. The message is dystopian. An ad for Republican Governor Ron DeSantis‘s presidential campaign, currently “in turmoil,” features the First Lady of Florida, Casey DeSantis, issuing a warning: “They’re coming after our children.”

The ad never quite says who is coming after the kids, but the video (below) includes clips of President Joe Biden and former Dr. Anthony Fauci, the face of the war on COVID and the now-retired Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

While it was first released over the summer, it received little attention. Casey DeSantis on Friday reposted her “Mamas for DeSantis” ad. It comes in the wake of the alleged ménage à trois sex scandal involving an unnamed woman who has accused Christian Ziegler, the head of the Florida Republican Party of rape. His wife, Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, who reportedly confirmed the consensual three-way sexual relationship, is Casey DeSantis’ “best friend,” according to Florida Politics publisher Peter Schorsch.

“In America, we’ve witnessed a lot and put up with enough,” Casey DeSantis says in a voiceover at the start of the two-and-a-half minute video.

“We’ve been forced into silence,” she charges, amid a baby crying and a COVID mask being put over a child’s face. “Into compliance.”

“Told that we must ‘trust the science,'” DeSantis continues, in a direct attack on Dr. Fauci, showing him speaking during the height of COVID in the Trump administration.

READ MORE: ‘Significant and Imminent Threat’: Trump Gag Order Largely Upheld by Appeals Court

And in an attack on LGBTQ children and adults, she says: “We’ve been told that we must deny truth. Back down. And look the other way.”

“Enough is enough. When you come after our kids, we fight back. Because there’s nothing we won’t do to protect our children,” she says.

Seconds later, the video shows President Joe Biden declaring, “Our nation’s children are all our children.”

“We will not allow you to exploit their innocence to advance your agenda. We are no longer silent,” Casey DeSantis declares. “We are united. We have finally found our fighter.”

Casey DeSantis praises her husband, saying he will do for America what he did for Florida: “Schools: opened. Parents’ rights: defended. School choice: universal. Critical race theory: prohibited. DEI: stopped. Child mutilation: illegal. Girls’ sports: saved. Communities: protected. Our economy: growing. And freedom: guaranteed.”

READ MORE: ‘Dystopian’: Potential Trump Cabinet Picks Send ‘5-Alarm’ Shock Waves of Terror

In the section where President Biden says, “Our nation’s children are all our children,” Casey DeSantis doesn’t explain that those words came from a White House celebration honoring Teachers of The Year from across the country. The President was praising an Oklahoma Teacher of the Year whose district includes students who speak 62 different languages, so she had to work hard to ensure everyone felt included. She had said, “There’s no such thing as someone else’s child.”

Nor did DeSantis acknowledge that Governor DeSantis’ performance for children has been poor.

The Florida Policy Institute, which says it is “an independent, non-partisan, and non-profit organization,” in September warned “368,728 youth aged 20 and younger” have been cut from Medicaid. “Because Florida has not expanded Medicaid, the vast majority of those losing insurance during this time have been children, parents, young adults, and new mothers.”

Florida ranks 35th in child well-being (with 1 being the best), according WUSF, citing the Kids Count Databook from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Some critics on social media blasted Casey DeSantis’ remarks.

“Republicans refused to extend child tax credits that pulled 2 million children out of poverty. They resist the idea of free school lunches. Yet they come up with bullshit about their opponents ‘coming after our children.’ Yes, we’re coming after them, to give them a sandwich,” wrote former Chicago Tribune editor Mark Jacob.

READ MORE: Jobs Report Forces Fox News to Admit Biden Economy ‘A Lot Stronger Than Anybody Understands’

Watch the Casey DeSantis video below or at this link.

Continue Reading

News

‘Significant and Imminent Threat’: Trump Gag Order Largely Upheld by Appeals Court

Published

on

A Washington, D.C. federal appeals court Friday afternoon largely upheld and reinstated U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s very narrow and limited gag order on Donald Trump for his trial on charges related to his alleged efforts to subvert the U.S. Constitution and overturn the results of the 2020 election.

“We agree with the district court that some aspects of Mr. Trump’s public statements pose a significant and imminent threat to the fair and orderly adjudication of the ongoing criminal proceeding, warranting a speech-constraining protective order,” reads Judge Patricia Millett unanimous three-judge panel ruling, posted by Lawfare’s Anna Bower. “The district court’s order, however, sweeps in more protected speech than is necessary. For that reason, we affirm the district court’s order in part and vacate it in part.”

The judges upheld the gag order “to the extent it prohibits all parties and their counsel from making or directing others to make public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding.”

READ MORE: Jobs Report Forces Fox News to Admit Biden Economy ‘A Lot Stronger Than Anybody Understands’

They also upheld the gag order “to the extent it prohibits all parties and their counsel from making or directing others to make public statements about (1) counsel in the case other than the Special Counsel, (2) members of the court’s staff and counsel’s staffs, or (3) the family members of any counsel or staff member—if those statements are made with the intent to materially interfere with, or to cause others to materially interfere with, counsel’s or staff’s work in this criminal case, or with the knowledge that such interference is highly likely to result.”

The judges removed from the gag order “speech beyond those specified categories.”

“We do not allow such an order lightly,” the judges added. “But Mr. Trump is also an indicted criminal defendant, and he must stand trial in a courtroom under the same procedures that govern all other criminal defendants.”

Bower explains, “Chutkan’s order would have prohibited statements that refer to special counsel Jack Smith as a ‘thug’ or ‘deranged.’ But the appeals court order does not apply to speech about the special counsel himself.”

CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane sums up the ruling: “Much of the gag order in Donald Trump’s 2020 election conspiracy criminal case in DC is *REINSTATED*.”

READ MORE: Peter Doocy Admits No ‘Concrete Evidence Joe Biden Personally Profited’ From Hunter’s Business

Continue Reading

News

Peter Doocy Admits No ‘Concrete Evidence Joe Biden Personally Profited’ From Hunter’s Business

Published

on

In a report focused on House Republicans’ plan to vote on a resolution to open an official impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden, Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy told viewers there is no evidence of impeachable offenses.

“The House Oversight Committee has been at this for years, and they have so far not been able to provide any concrete evidence that Joe Biden personally profited from his son Hunter’s overseas business but they are going to try again with this impeachment inquiry set to start next week,” Doocy, who often criticizes President Biden in White House press briefings, said Friday on Fox News Business.

Other news outlets this week have also stressed Republicans have come up empty-handed.

The right-leaning news outlet The Hill, reporting on the resolution Thursday, noted Republicans’ current investigation “has struggled to connect President Biden to the activities of his son, and they’ve failed to prove their most salacious allegation — and the one that would be most key for impeachment: that the president accepted a bribe.”

READ MORE: Jobs Report Forces Fox News to Admit Biden Economy ‘A Lot Stronger Than Anybody Understands’

One of the main pillars of Republicans’ allegations against President Biden, the “narrative that President Biden pushed Ukraine to fire its prosecutor to help his son, who served on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burimsa, has largely been refuted,” The Hill also reported.

“Republicans have engaged in wide-ranging inquiry into Mr. Biden for months,” The New York Times reported Tuesday, “hunting for evidence to back up their allegations that he corruptly profited from his family members’ overseas business dealings and accepted bribes. To date, they have failed to deliver compelling evidence to back up their boldest claims.”

Watch Doocy below or at this link.

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.