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WASHINGTON — President Trump on Tuesday pardoned former first son Hunter Biden’s business partner Devon Archer, who was convicted of swindling an American Indian tribe — saying he was treated “very unfairly.”

Archer became a key informant for House Republicans investigating then-President Joe Biden’s role in his family’s foreign business dealings and provided significant information incriminating the elder Biden, fueling an impeachment inquiry into alleged corruption. 


  Archer was convicted of swindling a Native American tribe. REUTERS Archer was convicted of swindling a Native American tribe. REUTERS

“I think he was treated very unfairly,” Trump said before signing the pardon at the White House.

“And I looked at the record, studied the record, and he was a victim of a crime, as far as I’m concerned. So we’re going to undo that.”

Trump added: “Congratulations, Devon!!”

Archer, a father of three, told The Post he was grateful to Trump and his family for sticking by him — and also to Tony Bobulinski, another former Biden family associate who came forward to corroborate information about different foreign dealings allegedly involving Joe Biden.

“I want to extend my deepest thanks to President Trump. I am grateful to the president for recognizing that I was the victim of a convoluted lawfare effort intended to destroy and silence me,” Archer said.

“Like so many people, my life was devastated by the Biden family’s selfish disregard for the truth and for the peace of mind and happiness of others. The Bidens talk about justice, but they don’t mean it.”

Archer added: “I want to thank my wife from the bottom of my heart for keeping the family intact in these fragile years. I never wanted any of this brought upon my family, [but] I now have the opportunity to return my full focus to family, friends and professional life.”


  Trump signed the order in a Tuesday afternoon Oval Office ceremony. AFP via Getty Images Trump signed the order in a Tuesday afternoon Oval Office ceremony. AFP via Getty Images

The now-pardoned businessman is writing a book due to be published by Post Hill, which also put out “Laptop From Hell” by The Post’s Miranda Devine, which catalogued emails showing Joe Biden was involved in business relationships in China, Ukraine and other countries where he held sway as vice president.

Trump promised Archer a pardon when they met Saturday at the NCAA wrestling championships in Philadelphia.

The president told The Post Sunday: “He’s getting a full pardon. He was screwed by the Bidens. They destroyed him like they tried to destroy a lot of people.”

A New York jury convicted Archer of two felonies in 2018 for taking part in selling more than $60 million in bogus bonds for an Oglala Sioux entity in South Dakota — sentencing him to a year in prison, forfeiture of $15.7 million and restitution of $43.4 million.

Archer and two other Burnham Financial Group executives were convicted of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and securities fraud. 

Hunter Biden was vice chairman of Burnham and earned up to $200,000, but was not charged.

The scandal-plagued Hunter’s “best friend in business” later turned on the Bidens and provided explosive details to Congress — as he pursued appeals and last year secured a legal win to allow for resentencing.

Archer argued that he didn’t intend to defraud the tribe, but his conviction was upheld, including by the Supreme Court last year, following a complicated legal struggle.

In a rare move, Archer’s conviction initially was overturned in November 2018 by Manhattan US District Judge Ronnie Abrams, who ruled there wasn’t enough evidence against him while upholding the convictions of his two co-defendants. It was later reinstated by appeals judges.


  Hunter Biden was given a full pardon by his father in the weeks before President Biden left office. YURI GRIPAS/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Hunter Biden was given a full pardon by his father in the weeks before President Biden left office. YURI GRIPAS/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

‘He called his dad’

Archer told the House Oversight Committee in 2023 that Joe Biden had many previously known interactions with his son’s partners, including about 20 speaker-phone calls during business meetings.

Archer said the 46th president met with Chinese government-linked businessman Jonathan Li during a December 2013 trip to Beijing — shortly before Hunter Biden, who was also on the trip, launched state-backed investment fund BHR Partners with Li as CEO. 

The sitting vice president later greeted Li on the phone during a subsequent Hunter trip to China, Archer said.

Archer also said Joe Biden attended two dinners at DC’s Cafe Milano restaurant in 2014 and 2015 with his son’s patrons from Eastern Europe and Central Asia — rather than just one dinner as previously reported.

Hunter Biden later confirmed those dinners in his own testimony, after the Biden 2020 campaign had repeatedly disputed their existence shortly before that year’s election. 

An attendee of the 2015 meal, Vadym Pozharskyi, was an adviser to the board of Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian gas company that paid Hunter a salary of up to $1 million per year beginning in April 2014 to serve on its board as his father led the Obama administration’s Ukraine policy.

Archer, who also served on Burisma’s board, testified to Congress that Hunter Biden in December 2015 stepped away from a meeting at the Four Seasons in Dubai to “call DC” with Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky and Pozharsky.


  Joe and Hunter Biden went golfing with Devon Archer (left) in 2014. FOX News/Tucker Carlson Tonight Joe and Hunter Biden went golfing with Devon Archer (left) in 2014. FOX News/Tucker Carlson Tonight

“Listen, I did not hear this phone call, but he — he called his dad,” Archer said.

The then-vice president was in the process of beginning to advocate for ousting Ukrainian prosecutor-general Viktor Shokin, which Biden ultimately achieved by threatening to yank $1 billion in US loan guarantees to Kyiv.

Another attendee of at least one of the DC dinners was former first lady of Moscow Yelena Baturina, a billionaire who sought out US property investments with the then-second son and Archer. Baturina transferred $3.5 million to a corporate entity controlled by Hunter Biden and Archer in February 2014.

Joe Biden posed with Kazakhstani business associates of his son’s at one of the dinners, including Kenes Rakishev, who wired Hunter $142,300 to buy a luxury car in 2014.

Archer left some questions unresolved about Hunter Biden’s business, including the reason $3.5 million was transferred by Baturina. Archer told Congress he was unaware of the reason before his attorney headed off further House inquiries.

Archer did say that Baturina invested more than $100 million in his Rosemont Realty firm, in which Hunter Biden also was involved.

Emails from Hunter’s abandoned laptop show he was actively engaged in courting Baturina. About a month after the mysterious transfer, Archer wrote to Hunter to say he was “[w]ith Yelena” and an April 26, 2014, email from Hunter to Archer said “we should ask Yelena to fund a short-term development team to scope projects.”

Baturina and another Russian billionaire who worked on US investments with Hunter Biden, Vladimir Yevtushenko, were never sanctioned by Joe Biden’s administration as he sought to apply financial pressure on Moscow’s business elite over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

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