Democrats who dismiss reported testimony from Hunter Biden's former business partner that Joe Biden interjected occasional, trivial ‘hello’s into conversations between son Hunter and his foreign associates do so at their own peril, a top civil rights attorney told Fox News on Tuesday.
Devon Archer, who is about to report to prison after being convicted of defrauding a Native American tribal entity, disclosed then-Vice President Biden was placed on the phone for "niceties" with individuals Hunter was speaking with several times, according to lawmakers who took part in Archer's closed-door interview.
When asked by reporters whether the revelations contradict President Biden's repeated assurances he had no knowledge of or never took part in Hunter's foreign dealings, Rep. Daniel Goldman, D-N.Y., dismissed the notion:
"He never said that he has never spoken to anyone, he said that he had nothing to do with Hunter Biden's business dealings."
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"If he says hello to someone that he sees his son with, is he supposed to say ‘Hi, son’ [but not] say hello to the other people at the table or the other people on the phone?" asked Goldman, who previously served as Democrats' impeachment counsel against ex-President Donald Trump and is a Levi Strauss heir.
Meanwhile on "Morning Joe," Rep. James Himes, D-Conn., suggested there was no inference of President Biden being engaged in "corrupt behavior" and that the then-veep was instead "on some phone calls talking about the weather."
Los Angeles civil rights attorney and Fox News contributor Leo Terrell soundly rejected these defenses, saying Archer's testimony further makes the case President Biden "lied to the American people."
"The statements about Beau Biden's death have nothing to do with the influence peddling," Terrell said on "The Story." "Let's be very, very clear… this witness has proven that he lied."
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Of President Biden's repeated public denials of participation in or knowledge of Hunter's dealings, Terrell said it is notable that all of them were made before the press or elsewhere, and not under oath.
"If he was in a courtroom, he would have been impeached in court based on that testimony – the statements by Archer," he said.
Terrell argued the House Republicans are essentially doing the job the Justice Department refuses to do, which is to delve deeper and more earnestly into the Biden family's business deals. The FBI, he said, should have taken aggressive action after Hunter's plea deal fell apart last week in Wilmington federal court.
"Where is the Department of Justice? Where's the FBI in the Hunter Biden plea deal that was designed to basically immunize Hunter Biden away from any of these crimes?
"That's why that plea deal is suspect. This is a road leading up to Joe Biden -- and Joe Biden unfortunately has been guilty of influence peddling," he said.
In a separate Fox News interview, Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., remarked that he would be mindful if his wife or child ever invited him, as a member of Congress, to dinner in a similar way as Hunter did with Joe.
"One of the first questions out of my mouth is, who's at that dinner? I don't show up just-because, especially if you're the vice president of the United States. So this stinks to high heaven. It is influence peddling. It is public corruption," Donalds said Monday on "The Ingraham Angle."
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