The Department of Justice caused a outcry this weekend when it filed a notice to a federal court on a Saturday that it should move ahead and order the jailing of Hunter Biden’s former business associate and friend, Devon Archer. That came less than 48 hours before Archer was scheduled to give potentially explosive testimony on the Biden corruption scandal. The Justice Department decided that the matter was so urgent that it required a weekend filing before Archer testifies. The optics could not be worse and many took the letter as an effort to intimidate Archer. Then the next day the Justice Department sent a second letter to the court saying it can wait to arrest him after he testifies. After the debacle in Delaware where the Justice Department seemed entirely confused on its own filings, the letters only reaffirmed the image of a department adrift in this expanding scandal.
On Saturday, the Justice Department told Judge Ronnie Abrams of the Southern District of New York that the court should move toward ordering the incarceration of Archer. The timing was viewed by many as intimidating and was reminiscent of the IRS visiting the home of journalist Matt Taibbi on the day that he was testifying to disclose the government’s massive censorship program. (Later, the ranking Democratic member Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) suggested that Taibbi could be arrested for perjury).
The Justice Department then sent a second letter to the court saying that it can wait: ‘To be clear, the Government does not request (and has never requested) that the defendant [Archer] surrender before his Congressional testimony.” Archer can testify . . . and then we can incarcerate him.
The letters seem to be speaking to Congress, the public, and, of course, Archer rather than the court itself. The Justice Department continues to stumble through this scandal. While it allowed major felonies to expire in the Hunter Biden investigation, it seems on a hair trigger for those who may accuse him or the Department of wrongdoing.
It often seems like the Justice Department under Merrick Garland is a series of step-on-the-rake moments.
Witness tampering by Democrats in control of government 3 letter agencies, and the bureaucracy in general. Their reach is long.
Prof. Turley you are Far to kind.
Why in any rational world would DOJ care is Archer testified ?
If he implicates himself and others is crimes – wouldnt that be what DOJ should want ?
The DOJ is corrupt and its corruption is exploding all arround it.
Republicnas have it wrong – both politically strategically and morally – it is Garland that needs to be impeached.
Over and over we find evidence that this DOJ is politically corrupt.
It is unargable that Garland has lied – including to congress.
Whether that meets the standard for a perjury conviction or not, it is very serious,
It is grounds for impeachment.
The absolute best spin you can put on the actions of DOJ under Garland is that they are tone deaf and massively incompetent.
And frankly that concludion requires willful blindness.
The reality is that DOJ/FBI have made themselves the Mafiosa arm of the Democratic Party.
They are using force and threats of force to provide political protection for the democratic party.
Whether it is the prosecutions they choose, the evidence they supress or create.
The prosecutions they decline or hinder.
Who they go after,
Who they do not go after.,
Whose speech they supress,
Whose they do not.
We have the most politically corrupt and thugish administration in US history.
While the Biden clan and agenda is the frequent beneficiary or much of this
the problem goes far beyond Biden. This is a systemic problem.
The actual RICO – Rackettering influenced and corrupt organization violation we have is federal law enforcement,
And Garland is at the top of that.
While the incompetence defense is not sufficient to explain what we are seeing,
it is much more than enough to impeach and remove Garland NOW.
The BIG Problem is NOT Joe Biden or his family or his corrupt business dealings.
The BIG problem is that Federal Law enforcement is politically corrupt.
We can deal with politicians who take bribes.
We can not deal with law enforcement that is driven by politics rather than the law.
How is this not witness tampering? They should have just come out and said “If you testify wrong we will put you in jail”
He was convicted of felonies. Why can’t we jail him?
You know better, Turley.
Why, oh why, have I not yet seen the memes depicting Brandon as the Meteorologist in Chief while sitting at Cafe Milano sipping fine wine with some of the world’s most corrupt people?
Sorta disappointed in the internet.
Joe Biden (and his family) treated the U.S. government as his personal ATM machine. This ATM machine dispensed cash (foreign aid) and favorable policies — to those corrupt countries that paid Joe Biden (and his family) tens of millions of dollars.
That is called *bribery*. And that is called selling out your country.
I contend that Obama is a joint holder of the account. Obama put Biden in charge of Ukraine, China and Russia, not England, Italy and Ireland. Obama was a hands on president who was knee deep in the attacks by the intelligence agencies on Trump and therefore would have been made aware of Biden’s corrupt practices. Obama is obviously a fan of money and what it can buy. Obama didn’t want Biden to run for the WH and even withheld his endorsement until there was nobody left standing.
If 2 plus 2 is 4 it is as clear as day that Obama not only knew of Biden’s felonious actions, he must have also countenanced them. Why would he do so if not for cash? Why?
“Never underestimate Joe to fu*k things up” ~ statement attributed to Obama
*I’ve still have a $100 reward for any reporter/journalist who asks Obama if it really was U.S. policy to fire Ukraine’s chief prosecutor who was investigating Burisma .. . and, follow-up, why?
dgsnowden, looking for Obama putting in writing the policy of firing Shokin will turn up the same day we see the WRITTEN AUTHORIZATION giving Weiss the power of a Special Counsel. You need WRITTEN AUTHORIZATION to do what all the inside players, except the honest whistleblowers, say he had the power to do.
I believe he has lied previously and said that it was. But thats not the rub. US policy is one thing. Let’s see the documentary evidence that he authorized the vice president to leverage $1B that didnt belong to him against it.
Certainly, Joe Biden famously said he ‘did his job’ – enforce Obama/U.S.&NATO policy – ‘impeccably’ giving Ukraine 6 hours to fire CP Victor Shorkin, but I have yet to see any documentary evidence to that effect.
Jens Stoltenburg, NATO Secretary General, has mumbled similar statements .. . but he’s a loon.
*if you hear of any credible – documented – confirmation VP Biden was enforcing U.S./NATO policy in Ukraine, pls let me know.
Accusations go better with evidence.
Dear Prof Turley,
Devon Archer had all the smiles and confidence of a man testifying before congress not under oath, fingers X. As a lawyer, you know full well if you’re not under oath, it’s all just a bunch of talking points for ‘sources familiar with the matter’ and the nightly news. .. people who can, and do, say anything.
FYI. I’ve already done the ‘impeachment inquiry’. The full impeachment of Joe Biden is years late, many wars and billions of dollars short.
I understand the reluctance. The last three impeachments – including Bill Clinton for noodling Monica – didn’t go so well. Thrice bitten twice shy.
STill, somebody has to do something. And I don’t think Senators Diane Feinstein and Mitch McConnell are playing with a full deck. Either.
*sooner rather than later.
Agree 100%, DG.
This is a spat between con men, and the GOP is caught in the middle. Archer is just trying to extort a pardon from the Big Guy, and if he gets it, he’ll recant everything because he was never under oath. Let Archer rot in jail. At least one of them will serve time.
The GOP needs to expose this, but none of these other scoundrels will ever serve time. They made sure to commit their crimes in blue jurisdictions (or China and Ukraine—same thing). Only the voters can punish Joe at this point.
Behind closed doors, not under oath .. . the NYT will spew more gossip than grandma’s sewing circle.
If I had to choose between government and a functioning ‘free press’, I would not hesitate to choose the latter.
*h/t Thomas Jefferson
Jason Aldean’s song “Try That in a Small Town” has hit 23 million views in 2 weeks, which is more than CNN viewers in 2 months
😘
Literally tyrants prosecuting political opponents and trying to imprison them. Dictatorship. Whats next? Just assassinating or flat out executing political opposition?
This country is lost. Nothing short of an Article V Convention or outright Revolution will change it either. The Democrats are evil. Pure malignant cancer that needs to be removed from all political representation.
As much as I hate the idea, I think you’re right. I hate the idea of a shooting war, but I think one became inevitable with the Kavanaugh hearings and the circus show of Ms. Blasey Ford’s false testimony. That was the moment our country went beyond the point of no return. (The earlier harbinger was the tragic day of November 6, 2012, when the electorate returned a known communist to office.)
Oldmanfromkansas,
I agree.
They say power abhors a vacuum. If it were not for the Republicans, the Democrats would have no one to blame .. . but themselves.
“Anonymous” and others are claiming that since we didn’t hear the interview with Archer it must be benign but all any sentient person has to do is see and hear Dan Goldman’s interpretation of it to know it is damning.
Goldman says, with a straight face, that Hunter called the VP and they talked about the weather!!! Also please note that Goldman is sweating, flushed and breathless. One of the worst cases of stage fright I have seen in a congressman.
HullBobby,
They are desperate.
More and more evidence is mounting so they have to cry “There is no evidence!”
They are the DNC’s Baghdad Bob.
“. . . they talked about the weather!!!”
Maybe by “weather” they meant “whether” — as in: Whether Joe Biden protects your corrupt government depends on the number of zeros in that wire transfer.
Leftist apologists need a better lie generator. That one doesn’t pass the giggle test.
The cabal of globalists behind the never-ending persecution through the weaponization of the DOJ/FBI, and aided by a captured corporate media propaganda network, against President Trump. These powerful factions – existing within the deep state, are responsible for the rigging of the 2020 election in favor of former VPOTUS Biden. Hunter Biden’s irresponsible and recklessness behavior, Musk’s purchase of Twitter, and the GOP takeover of the House, helped to expose the massive levels of corruption infesting the totality of the Democratic Party, including Biden’s regime. These corrupt actors are desperate to keep in place the extreme, and harmful Leftist agenda that’s harming our great country.
The denial of the left is becoming quite comical. One cannot help but give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are merely being disingenuous and are not truly this stupid. They love to claim that each new piece of information is not “evidence”, as if each exists in a vacuum. They ask the rest of us to not do the math that they are either incapable or unwilling to do. Watching them twist in the wind is pure entertainment. Add the Archer revelations to this tidbit when contemplating whether Joe Bribin’ever discussed business with Hunter.
“Hey pal, it’s dad. It’s 8:15 on Wednesday night. If you get a chance, just give me a call. Nothing urgent. I just wanted to talk to you. I thought the article released online — it’s going to be printed tomorrow in the Times — was good. I think you’re clear,” the president is heard saying in the recording.
Let’s not forget some of these business deals were in person dinners. Not just phone calls.
“Devon Archer stated that “when Joe Biden was Vice President of the United States, he joined Hunter Biden’s dinners with his foreign business associates in person or by speakerphone over 20 times.”
IN PERSON DINNERS, or by speakerphone
I remember back before retirement when I would be sitting with clients and I would say, “hey, let’s get my father on this call to see what he can add, and to find out his opinion on the weather. ” It is all so believable.