Late Sunday evening U.S. Attorney Damian Williams filed a letter with U.S. District Court Judge Ronnie Abrams, the judge presiding in Devon Archer’s criminal trial, stating that “the Government does not request (and has never requested) that [Archer] surrender before his Congressional testimony,” which is scheduled for Monday, July 31.
Rep. Mike Johnson tweeted the letter:
Update: The weaponized DOJ now “clarifies” they won’t try to prevent Devon Archer from testifying tomorrow. Witness intimidation & obstruction? Nah, nothing to see here. pic.twitter.com/tHQ6ueFfZs
— Rep. Mike Johnson (@RepMikeJohnson) July 31, 2023
Sunday morning Rep. James Comer broke the news that Williams had sent a letter to Abrams on Saturday, July 29, asking the court to set a surrender date for Archer to report to prison. As Bonchie wrote, Comer told Maria Bartiromo:
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.
Archer’s attorney responded Sunday afternoon, saying that Archer planned to “show up on Monday and to honestly answer the questions that are put to him by the Congressional investigators” and that Archer didn’t view the letter as intimidation.
From Devon Archer attorney Matthew L. Schwartz: pic.twitter.com/z6WvbPJYeL
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) July 30, 2023
U.S. Attorney Williams also wrote in his letter that it could take weeks or months before Archer is actually set to report to prison, and he could still be allowed pre-trial release pending his appeals.