The Department of Justice (DOJ) said that ex-business partner Devon Archer’s testimony before a House committee on Monday would not be affected by the DOJ’s desire to send Archer to jail.
To allay the fears of Republicans on the House Oversight Committee, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams issued a second letter to the judge on Sunday. His first letter had been delivered on Saturday. The first letter asked the court to schedule Archer’s incarceration.
In the letter, Williams claims the government did not demand and has never demanded that the defendant turn himself in before he testifies before Congress.
A federal prosecutor said that from the time a date is set to when a defendant is sent to a national institution by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to begin serving a jail sentence, it might be weeks or months.
However, Williams clarified that the Government prefers any surrender date, should the Court set one, to occur after the defendant has finished testifying before Congress.
Former John Kerry campaign aide Archer was given a jail term of around a year in 2022. While President Biden was not involved, Archer was found guilty of fraud involving a Native American tribal corporation. Due to the current appeals process, the jail sentence has been put on hold.
Republicans were alarmed by the timing of the U.S. attorney’s original letter, which asked the court to establish a date for Archer to surrender to authorities.
The possibility of Devon Archer’s arrest by the DOJ was raised by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), a member of the House Oversight Committee, on X. She said that if Archer’s detention is seen as retaliation for his testimony against Hunter and Joe Biden, then the Department of Justice should be defunded and Merrick Garland should be impeached.
The House Oversight Committee’s plan to interview Archer seems to be moving forward; however, several committee members remain suspicious of the DOJ’s true intentions.
According to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on X, the DOJ obstructed justice by asking that Devon Archer be taken to jail immediately and by sending a second letter emphasizing that they sought his detention “after” his congressional testimony.
Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) asked if this was possibly witness coercion and interference.
