We reported earlier Sunday about a letter that the Department of Justice sent to Devon Archer’s attorney.
The letter was trying to arrange a surrender date for Archer to turn himself over to be sent to prison on the unrelated fraud case for which he was convicted. He appealed the case and lost and had been out on bail pending the appeal.
The letter sent to Archer on the weekend, right before he was to testify on Monday, had a lot of people talking who were concerned that it could be an effort to intimidate him. That’s what had Fox’s Maria Bartiromo and the House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer going.
Some interpreted it as an attempt to lock him up before testifying. As attorney Margot Cleveland explained, that wasn’t what this was. The timing comes after he lost a petition for a rehearing, with a mandate being entered last week.
The government is asking the judge to set a date for him to turn himself over. Archer’s attorney is disagreeing because he’s saying they’re going to continue to appeal (so Archer should get to stay out in the meantime). Archer’s attorney is also raising another question about sentencing.
So while it may still be an effort to intimidate, given the timing, it was a bit more nuanced than some were saying; they’re not actually rushing out to lock him up tomorrow. The government and Archer’s attorney are still talking. The turnover is not necessarily something that’s going to happen immediately; that’s up to the judge in the matter to decide, so we’ll have to see.
Now Devon Archer’s attorney, Matthew Schwartz, is weighing in with what Archer thinks about the letter, and it’s an interesting reaction.
Schwartz said that they were aware of the speculation about the letter being an effort by the Biden administration to intimidate Archer.
Schwartz said that “Archer does not agree with that speculation.” Schwartz said, “In any case, Mr. Archer will do what he has planned to all along, which is to show up on Monday, and to honestly answer the questions that are put to him by the Congressional investigators.”
It’s good if he doesn’t think that this is intimidation. Maybe he won’t be intimidated and will lay out the truth. It’s a lot to face, knowing the power that they might array against you. I hope that he’s not backing off. Let’s hope he sticks to his guns and doesn’t flip. I would guess that he’s made some form of a proffer to the House Oversight Committee as to what he has to say, generally. That’s why we were able to report that he was likely to tell the Committee that he’s expected to lay out the connections to Joe Biden including through phone calls at business meetings. As we’ve said, he has a lot he could say if he wants to. He can’t go back on anything he may have already represented to the Committee, though; if he does, he might be in other trouble.
We detailed that the Committee has a lot of information already, including the 170 suspicious activity reports on Hunter and Joe Biden, plus another 100 or so reports that are related to them.
So we shall have to see. Let’s hope Archer sticks to his guns.