Sunday morning on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo, Representative James Comer made several tantalizing announcements.
Bartiromo displayed a letter from the DOJ to the judge supervising Devon Archer’s criminal case during the discussion. It requested a deadline for his surrender so he could be incarcerated.
Comer and Bartiromo promptly brought up Archer’s scheduled appearance before House investigators on Monday (today).
Here is a transcript of their conversation:
Bartiromo: By the way, Devon Archer is testifying on Monday. Do you ever see – you usually see – the DOJ send letters like this out on a Saturday?
Comer: Never, never. This is the first time I’ve ever heard of the Department of Justice doing anything on a Saturday.
Bartiromo: So what is this letter? Can you walk us through it? The government is apprising the court of the status of Devon Archer’s appeal of his judgment of conviction, and they request that the court set a surrender date for the defendant to report to a facility. Please walk us through what this letter says.
Comer: Yeah, the letter from the Department of Justice is trying to nudge the judge to go ahead and sentence Devon Archer for something unrelated to what we’re going to be talking to him about tomorrow. It’s odd that it was issued on a Saturday, and it’s odd that it’s right before he’s scheduled to come in to have an opportunity to speak in front of the House Oversight Committee and tell the American people the truth about what really went on with Burisma.
So, you know, I don’t know if this is a coincidence, Maria, or this is another example of the weaponization of the Department of Justice, but I can tell you this: The lengths to which the Biden legal team has gone to try to intimidate our witnesses, to coordinate with the Department of Justice, and to certainly coordinate with the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, to encourage people not to cooperate with our investigation, to encourage banks not to turn over bank records, to encourage Treasury not to let us have access to those Suspicious Activity Reports – it’s very troubling.
And I believe that this is another violation of the law. This is obstruction of justice. But nevertheless, we’re going to continue to move forward and try to present the American people with the facts and the truth about this president and his family.
Comer notes that it is unusual for the DOJ to take this sort of procedural action on the weekend. Is it a mere coincidence that the federal government is attempting to expedite Archer’s detention on unrelated charges days before he is scheduled to testify? Nobody knows for certain at this time, but the fact that he lost his appeal almost two months ago is a fairly significant coincidence.
It appears plausible that the DOJ is attempting to prevent Archer from cooperating indefinitely with the House investigation into the Bidens. On Monday, it is highly unlikely that the judge will take a preposterous action to halt his testimony. However, if he must report to prison shortly thereafter, House investigators would be severely hindered in their ability to continue interrogating him in the future.
Given the difficulty of the scenario, it will be difficult for Comer and other members of Congress to learn everything Archer knows in a single interview. Initial responses will need to be supported by additional evidence, which will likely lead to additional, more in-depth inquiry. Ignore the prospect that submitting such a request to the DOJ prior to speaking with House investigators could be interpreted as coercion. In his conversation with Bartiromo, Comer went as far as to claim that justice is being obstructed.
Comer pledged to continue regardless, and the letter delivered on Saturday will undoubtedly encourage House investigators to go even further in the remaining time.
The government has asked the magistrate to establish a deadline for his surrender. Archer’s attorney disagrees, as he asserts that they will continue to appeal (therefore Archer should be permitted to leave at this time). Archer’s attorney has also raised an additional issue concerning the punishment.
Given the time, it could still have been an attempt to intimidate, but contrary to what some people believed, he will not be locked up tomorrow. The government and Archer’s attorney remain in contact. The court will determine whether or not the transition will take place immediately, so we must wait and see.
Now that Matthew Schwartz, Devon Archer’s attorney, has commented, it will be intriguing to hear what Archer believes about the letter.
Schwartz stated that they were aware of the allegation that the Biden administration was attempting to intimidate Archer.
In the words of Schwartz, “Archer does not agree with that speculation. 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.”
From Devon Archer attorney Matthew L. Schwartz: pic.twitter.com/z6WvbPJYeL
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) July 30, 2023