Was Devon Archer's testimony a Republican silver bullet or just fool's gold?

Like Erwin Schrodinger's eponymous cat, former Hunter Biden business associate Devon Archer's closed-door congressional testimony this week offered a masterclass in the powers of perception — and their limits — as House Republicans and Democrats each scrambled to stake their divergent narrative claims in the wake of his highly anticipated appearance on Capitol Hill. For conservative lawmakers, Archer's testimony offered further damning evidence in their ongoing, and thus far unsuccessful, attempt to link President Biden to his son's questionable business dealings. For Democrats, Archer's appearance was not so much a silver bullet of impeachable criminality as it was a chunk of fool's gold — shiny, but ultimately worthless.

"Joe Biden was 'the brand' that his son sold around the world to enrich the Biden family," House Oversight Chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) crowed, following Archer's claims that the younger Biden had occasionally put his father on the phone with various potential business partners over the years. Not so, countered Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), who said that although Hunter seemed to have sold the "illusion of access" to his father, Archer had nevertheless stressed "over and over and over again that President Biden never discussed any business dealings or interests with Hunter or anyone else" in all that time. "To the extent that Hunter Biden used his father ... in any furtherance of any of his business dealings, it was not in consultation or collaboration with his father," Goldman told Axios following Archer's testimony. "Did he want to have the appearance of influence" to his various business associates, Goldman conceded. "Yes, I think he did. And that was ill-advised," he continued.

By providing both Democrats and Republicans with enough grist for their respective mills, Archer's testimony is now being simultaneously touted as a major bombshell for some, and a major dud for others. Is it really one or the other, or could it be a little bit of both?

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What are the commentators saying?

"Will the president have to apologize for misleading the public during the 2020 debates, when he categorically denied his son's influence-peddling overseas?" The Wall Street Journal's William McGurn asked following Archer's testimony. Ceding that Archer's testimony "doesn't prove Joe Biden discussed business terms or shared in any profits," McGurn stressed that "at the very least, it exposes Mr. Biden's gaslighting of the American people in 2020" when pressed about Hunter's business dealings during that year's presidential elections.

"As the layers of this onion get peeled back, it's starting to smell incredibly bad," former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker told Fox News, claiming that Democrats have remained quiet following Archer's appearance because "most of these people in the House on the Democrats side impeached Donald Trump for asking [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy to look into this exact situation."

"Archer's interview on Monday didn't seem to provide the smoking gun [House Republicans] were looking for," The Daily Beast contended. Rather, Archer "reportedly provided no evidence that directly connected Joe Biden" to Hunter's business machinations.

House Republicans "keep promising bombshell evidence," agreed White House Spokesperson Ian Sams. "But over and over, they can't produce any."

"Republicans have claimed repeatedly — and so far without proof — that the investigations implicate the president in corruption and crimes," the New York Times wrote, cautioning that nevertheless, "Mr. Archer's testimony underscored that Mr. Biden had made false or misleading statements regarding his family members' finances."

"Hunter Biden's constant stream of scandals and his history of being a brazen nepo baby have made him a perfect political target for the GOP," MSNBC's Zeeshan Aleem wrote shortly before Archer appeared before the House panel. That "constant stream" has ultimately helped conservatives create "a false symmetry between Joe Biden and the Trump clan's systematic exploitation of political connections for personal gain."

What comes next?

For the immediate time being, the GOP effort to pursue and exploit Hunter Biden's legal challenges and alleged business practices seems guaranteed to continue apace.

"Now that we have proof that Joe Biden is on record lying," Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) told Axios. "That is a very, very big deal in regards to impeachment inquiry" of which she herself has become a leading proponent. "It's highly unlikely that Hunter wanted to talk with his father about the weather," The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote after Archer's testimony concluded. "He knew what he was selling, and we'll see what else we learn as the House keeps looking."

Meanwhile, House Republicans have begun probing the younger Biden's recently derailed plea agreement over tax and firearm allegations, with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Miss.) and Comer jointly asking the Justice Department to clarify the "unusual" nature of Biden's deal. That plea agreement has been temporarily paused for a month while Justice Department attorneys and Biden's legal team work to file new paperwork in the hopes of moving ahead as initially planned.

Archer himself seems content for now to back out of the political spotlight, and focus on his own legal challenges. "We are aware that all sides are claiming victory following Mr. Archer's voluntary interview today," his attorneys stated after he'd left the committee hearing. "All Devon Archer did was exactly what we said he would: show up and answer the questions put to him honestly and completely. Mr. Archer shared the truth with the Committee, and we will leave to them and others to decide what to do with it."