'Ukraine Gas Exec' in Trump's Nickelback Meme Is Actually Just Your Average American Douchebag

Look at this photograph, which actually doesn’t have a “Ukraine gas exec” in it.

On Thursday, hours after Twitter removed Trump’s Nickleback Biden meme alleging nefarious connections between Joe Biden and his son’s business partners, Politifact reported that the man Trump’s meme labeled as a “Ukraine gas exec” isn’t that at all.

Instead, he is your typical American businessman asshole, who Hunter Biden had worked with previously before joining the board at Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

Tucker Carlson first obtained and reported on the photo showing Joe Biden, Hunter, and an unnamed “Ukraine gas exec,” which President Donald Trump later shared in the Nickelback “Photograph” meme. The video of the meme has since been removed from Twitter as a result of a copyright complaint.

While the Fox News article accompanying Carlson’s segment does identify the man on the far left of the photo as Devon Archer and reports that Archer “served on the board of the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings with Hunter [Biden],” it claims he’s a “Ukraine gas company exec.”

Politifact, however, clarified Archer’s position and reported on his previous business with Hunter prior to joining Burisma. The website emphasized that board members aren’t typically involved in day-to-day company operations, and that calling Archer a “Ukraine gas exec” may mislead readers to think he’s Ukrainian, which was definitely Trump’s objective amid his deepening impeachment inquiry.

Here are some more boring details about Archer and Biden that are nonetheless offensive in their own ways. From Politifact, emphasis mine:

In 2008, Hunter joined with Archer — a former senior adviser for the presidential campaign of John Kerry in 2004 — in a string of investment and consulting firms. The Wall Street Journal reported in May 2014 that the two had joined the board of Burisma.

[…]

Archer and Biden also worked together as managing partners at Rosemont Seneca Partners, a Washington investment fund. Archer and Biden also regularly partnered with Christopher Heinz, Archer’s roommate at Yale University and Kerry’s stepson.

[…]

In the United States, Archer was implicated in a 2018 legal case that involved defrauding a Native American tribal entity and several pension fund investors. Archer was originally convicted of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and securities fraud, but his sentence was later overturned.

See? Just an incredibly sketchy jerk. Not an incredibly sketchy Ukrainian jerk.