Hunter Biden’s former friend and one-time close business partner, Devon Archer, has told the House Oversight Committee in a closed-door session that President Biden did, in fact, call into the first son’s business meetings at least 20 times. This would contradict the elder Mr. Biden’s repeated insistence, including during a presidential debate, that he had no knowledge of or involvement in his son’s business dealings, which are under criminal investigation by federal prosecutors.

Ukrainian energy interests were paying both the younger Mr. Biden and Archer handsomely, Archer reportedly told investigators today, because of the value of the Biden “brand.” At the time a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, had Mr. Biden and Archer on its board, the elder Mr. Biden — in his position as American vice president — was charged with carrying out the Obama administration’s foreign policy with respect to Ukraine.

Archer also told lawmakers he knows nothing about an alleged multimillion-dollar bribe that an FBI “confidential human source” claims Ukrainian energy interests paid the Bidens for “protection.” The allegation is that a bribe was paid by the founder and president of Burisma, Mykola Zlochevsky.

Democrats, for the most part, have downplayed recent disclosures, saying Mr. Biden’s meet-and-greets with Hunter’s clients were merely inconsequential blandishments.

Before Archer had even completed his testimony, one Oversight Committee Democrat, Congressman Dan Goldman, told reporters that Archer did not testify that the elder Mr. Biden ever acted improperly. 

“Now-President Biden didn’t even know” the people he was speaking with over the phone, Mr. Goldman told reporters outside of the private hearing room. Archer “described” the phone calls several times, Mr. Goldman said, claiming that Archer said the conversations often did not go further than discussing “how the weather is.” 

“The witness was very consistent that none of those conversations ever had to do with any business dealings or transactions,” Mr. Goldman continued. “They were purely, [Archer] said, casual conversations.”

Mr. Goldman did confirm that the younger Mr. Biden would often call his father during business meetings, but the New York congressman claimed that it was nothing more than to say hello. 

Archer’s testimony is the latest evidence uncovered by House investigators demonstrating how Hunter Biden used his father to extract money from foreign interests. Earlier this month, the House Ways and Means Committee released private WhatsApp messages between the younger Mr. Biden and a Communist Chinese business associate in which Hunter Biden texted that he was, at that moment, sitting next to his father and that he wanted payment or he’d hold a grudge.

 As the probes into Mr. Biden’s business affairs gather steam, not every Democratic member of Congress has absolved the younger Mr. Biden of all guilt. Congressman Jim Himes, who represents southern Connecticut, said over the weekend that Mr. Biden should be punished for any violation of the law without interference from his father’s DOJ. 

“Let me say something that you never heard a Republican member of Congress say in the four years of the Trump administration, which is that if Hunter Biden broke the law, he should be prosecuted,” Mr. Himes told MSNBC on Friday. “And it is clear that he broke the law with respect to taxes and possibly the ownership of a handgun. He should be held accountable for that.” 

Mr. Himes, though, has said he sees no criminal or impeachment-worthy activity so far in what Congress has uncovered during its investigation into the Biden family. 

Archer’s statements are just one part of the Oversight Committee’s larger investigation into alleged corruption involving the Biden family, which began with probing the source of millions of dollars that had been passed to family members through shell companies. The source of the funds was disclosed to be foreign business entities in countries such as Ukraine, Romania, and Communist China. 

The chairman of the Oversight Committee, Congressman James Comer, said earlier this month that he and his colleagues are taking in valuable testimony and documents as a part of their investigation. “We have a list of who’s who that were involved in the Biden organization that we plan on deposing throughout the summer,” Mr. Comer told Fox News earlier this month, adding that he has only just entered the “deposition phase” of the investigation. 

“We’re up to six banks now,” Mr. Comer said, referring to the number of financial institutions from which he has received information about the Biden family. “We’re gonna have an announcement hopefully next week. More findings, more disturbing findings.”

“Bank records don’t lie,” he added. “People make a big issue out of taxes but people cheat on their taxes all the time, but it’s hard to cheat on bank records.”

The testimony from Archer is likely to lead to even louder calls for the elder Mr. Biden’s impeachment. Speaker McCarthy has warmed to the idea of impeaching the president, something he said last year he would try to avoid. 

“This is rising to the level of impeachment inquiry, which provides Congress the strongest power to get the rest of the knowledge and information needed because this president has also used something that we have not seen since Richard Nixon, used the weaponization of government to benefit his family and deny Congress the ability to have the oversight,” Mr. McCarthy told Fox News’s Sean Hannity on July 25.