Trump Indicted Over 2020 Election, Amid New Biden, Hunter Corruption Revelations

Former United States President Donald Trump was indicted Tuesday on charges stemming from far-left activist Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. He was indicted along with unnamed co-conspirators including four attorneys, one Justice Department official and one political consultant.

According to the indictment, Trump "did knowingly combine, conspire, confederate and agree with co-conspirators, known and unknown to the Grand Jury, to defraud the United States by using dishonesty, fraud, and deceit to impair, obstruct, and defeat the lawful federal government function by which the results of the presidential election are collected, counted, and certified by the federal government."

"The attack on our nation's Capitol on January 6th, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy," Smith said in public statement following the indictment. "Described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies -- lies by the defendant -- targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the U.S. government: the nation's process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election." He added, though, that the indictment "is only an allegation and that the defendant must be presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law."

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, the federal judge in Washington, D.C. assigned the Trump case, is notorious for issuing tougher sentences to other Jan. 6 defendants than what the Justice Department requested, and put every one of them behind bars.

Reacting on social media, Trump argued that the indictment reveals to the world that "corruption, scandal and failure" has riddled the U.S. He wrote: "THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!!! I HAVE NEVER HAD SO MUCH SUPPORT ON ANYTHING BEFORE. THIS UNPRECEDENTED INDICTMENT OF A FORMER (HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL!) PRESIDENT, & THE LEADING CANDIDATE, BY FAR, IN BOTH THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND THE 2024 GENERAL ELECTION, HAS AWOKEN THE WORLD TO THE CORRUPTION, SCANDAL, & FAILURE THAT HAS TAKEN PLACE IN THE UNITED STATES FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS," Trump wrote. "AMERICA IS A NATION IN DECLINE, BUT WE WILL MAKE IT GREAT AGAIN, GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!" He also thanked his supporters.

This is the second federal indictment the former president who currently leads the 2024 Republican presidential primary field, faces out of Smith’s investigation. He pleaded not guilty to 37 counts related to classified records from his presidency.

Legal experts slammed Tuesday's baseless indictment, with many critics pointing out that Smith is known for over-charging cases and being shutdown by the courts.

"Special Counsel Jack Smith just issued the first criminal indictment of alleged disinformation in my view," constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley wrote on 𝕏. "If you take a red pen to all of the material presumptively protected by the First Amendment, you can reduce much of the indictment to haiku..."

Critics also pointed out that President Joe Biden's department of justice(DOJ) is trying to distract from the revelations of corruption and influence peddling by then vice president Biden and his son Hunter.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said Devon Archer, the first family's former business partner, confirmed in his appearance Monday that President Biden "lied to the American people when he said he had no knowledge about his son’s business dealings and was not involved."

Comer’s comments come after Archer, a former business associate and longtime friend of Hunter Biden, sat for hours before the House Oversight Committee in a closed-door hearing Monday. 

Archer said that Hunter put his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, on speakerphone while meeting with business partners at least 20 times. Archer described how Joe Biden was put on the phone to sell "the brand."

"Joe Biden was ‘the brand’ that his son sold around the world to enrich the Biden family," Comer said. "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."

"When Burisma’s owner was facing pressure from the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating the company for corruption, Archer testified that Burisma executives asked Hunter to ‘call D.C.’ after a Burisma board meeting in Dubai," Comer continued.

"Why did Joe Biden lie to the American people about his family’s business dealings and his involvement?" He asked. "It begs the question what else he is hiding from the American people."

Comer said the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability "will continue to follow the Bidens’ money trail and interview witnesses to determine whether foreign actors targeted the Bidens, President Biden is compromised and corrupt, and our national security is threatened."

Archer's attorney, Matthew L. Schwartz, the managing partner of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, released a statement Monday following his client's testimony. 

"We are aware that all sides are claiming victory following Mr. Archer’s voluntary interview today," Schwartz said. "But all Devon Archer did was exactly what we said he would: show up and answer the questions put to him honestly and completely." 

Schwartz added: "Mr. Archer shared the truth with the Committee, and we will leave to them and others to decide what to do with it."

Comer detailed the "key takeaways" from Archer’s hours-long testimony Monday.

Archer, who served on the board of Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings alongside Hunter beginning in 2014, told lawmakers that the value of adding Hunter to the board was to build the company’s "brand."

Archer, according to Comer, confirmed that then-Vice President Joe Biden was "the brand."

Archer also testified that "Burisma would have gone out of business if ‘the brand’ had not been attached to it." 

Archer said he believed that Hunter Biden being on the board and the "Biden brand" contributed to Burisma’s longevity, according to Comer’s office, and suggested that people would have been "intimidated to mess with Burisma legally because of the Biden brand."

Meanwhile, Archer testified about an interaction in December 2015, involving Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky and Vadym Pozharski -- an executive at the firm.

Archer said Zlochevsky and Pozharski "placed constant pressure on Hunter Biden to get help from D.C." in getting Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin ousted. Shokin was investigating Burisma for corruption.

According to the source, Archer testified that on Dec. 4, 2015, Hunter Biden, Zlochevsky and Pozharski "called D.C." to discuss the matter. Archer testified that Biden, Zlochevsky, and Pozharski stepped away to take make the call.

It is unclear if Hunter and the Burisma executives spoke directly to Joe Biden on the matter.

At the time, though, Joe Biden was in charge of U.S.-Ukraine policy for the Obama administration.

A source said that Archer testified that just days later, on Dec. 9, 2015, Joe Biden traveled to Ukraine and made a speech. Biden, during the speech, said the government needed to fix the Ukrainian prosecutor's office. 

The testimony comes after Fox News Digital first reported on an unclassified version of an FBI-generated FD-1023 form, which contained allegations that Joe Biden and Hunter Biden allegedly "coerced" Zlochevsky to pay them millions of dollars in exchange for their help in getting Shokin fired.

Biden has acknowledged that when he was vice president, he successfully pressured Ukraine to fire prosecutor Viktor Shokin. At the time, Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings, and at the time, Hunter had a highly lucrative role on the board receiving thousands of dollars per month. The then-vice president threatened to withhold $1 billion of critical U.S. aid if Shokin was not fired.

Comer said that the December 2015 phone call from Biden, Zlochevsky and Pozharski to D.C. "raises concerns that Hunter Biden was in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act."

Federal prosecutors during Hunter Biden’s court appearance last week, in which he pled not guilty to federal tax crimes and a felony gun charge, hinted that the Justice Department is investigating Hunter for potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Meanwhile, Comer said that Archer testified that Hunter Biden put then-Vice President Joe Biden on the speakerphone during business meetings over 20 times-- despite the White House, and Biden himself, denying ever having been in business with Hunter or having ever been involved.

The phone calls and meetings, according to Archer, included a dinner in Paris with a French energy company and in China with Jonathan Li, the CEO of BHR Partners -- a joint-venture between Rosemont Seneca and Chinese investment firm Bohai Capital. BHR Partners is a Beijing-backed private equity firm controlled by Bank of China Limited.

Archer also testified that then-Vice President Biden had coffee with Jonathan Li, the CEO of BHR, in Beijing. Then-Vice President Biden even wrote a letter of recommendation for college for Li’s daughter.

Other "key" takeaways, according to Comer, included that Archer confirmed Joe Biden was referred to as "my guy" by Hunter Biden.

Archer also testified that in the spring of 2014, then-Vice President Biden attended a business dinner with his son, Hunter, and his associates at Café Milano in Washington, D.C. Elena Baturina, a Russian oligarch who is the widow of the former mayor of Moscow, attended the dinner.

"Notably, the Biden Administration’s public sanctions list for Russian oligarchs does not contain Baturina," Comer’s office said.