Mar 25, 2025 - Politics & Policy

Trump pardons former Hunter Biden associate Devon Archer

Sareen Habeshian

Devon Archer, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, arrives for closed-door testimony with the House Oversight Committee at the O'Neill House Office Building July 31, 2023 in Washington, DC. Republicans are expected to ask Archer if U.S. President Joe Biden was involved in business dealings w — Devon Archer on July 31, 2023, in Washington, DC. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

President Trump granted clemency Tuesday to Devon Archer, a former associate of Hunter Biden.

The big picture: Archer, who was convicted of fraud in 2018, provided key testimony during the congressional inquiry into the business entanglements of former President Biden's son.

Archer testified in 2023 that Hunter Biden sold "the illusion of access" by putting his father on speaker phone with business partners, raising questions at the time about the president's son leveraging the family name.

Zoom in: "I think he was treated very unfairly," Trump said while signing the pardon Tuesday. "I looked at the records, studied the records, and he was. He was a victim of a crime as far as I'm concerned. So, we're going to undo that."

Archer was convicted for his role in a scheme that involved fraudulently issuing and selling more than $60 million of tribal bonds.
His 2018 conviction was overturned later the same year but New York's court of appeals reinstated it in 2020. He was sentenced to one year in prison in 2022.

Zoom out: Then-President Biden before leaving office pardoned his son. Hunter Biden was the first child of a sitting president to face criminal charges.

Hunter Biden was convicted on felony gun charges in Delaware, and pleaded guilty on felony tax charges in California.

Go deeper: Trump says he's ending Secret Service protection for Hunter, Ashley Biden

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Trump pardons former Hunter Biden associate Devon Archer

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