Special counsel David Weiss — who has previously filed criminal charges against President Biden’s son Hunter — announced new charges Thursday against a former FBI informant who officials say lied about the Bidens’ business dealings.
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Alexander Smirnov, 43, is described in charging documents as a former confidential human source for the FBI who gave agents false information in 2020 about a prominent political figure and his son.
The description of the two individuals matches that of Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and a person familiar with the matter said those are the individuals about whom Smirnov lied. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.
The indictment returned by a grand jury in Los Angeles charges Smirnov with making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record.
For months, congressional Republicans have tried to use some FBI informant claims to argue that Hunter Biden — and President Biden — engaged in corrupt business deals and that the FBI did not pursue those claims.
Now, the same prosecutor who is seeking to convict Hunter Biden of gun and tax crimes has also brought charges against a person who allegedly made false claims of corruption against the Bidens.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...d=mc_magnet-hunter-biden_inline_collection_20
Thursday’s indictment implicitly argues that some of the most sensational charges Republicans have sought to level against President Biden and his son were based on lies.
Smirnov, according to the indictment, “transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against Public Official 1, the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties for President, after expressing bias against Public Official 1 and his candidacy.”
Authorities charge that Smirnov, in talking to his FBI handler, repeatedly expressed dislike for Joe Biden, and at one point texted the agent that Biden was "going to jail.”
Smirnov allegedly reported to an FBI agent in 2017 that he had a phone call with the owner of the Ukrainian firm Burisma, in which it was discussed that “Public Official 1’s son, was a member of Burisma’s Board” — which was publicly known information at the time.
In 2020, the indictment charges Smirnov brought new claims to the bureau, including that he knew of conversations from 2015 or 2016 in which Burisma executives said they hired the son “to protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems.”
Smirnov’s claims that he knew of those conversations were false, the indictment charges.
U.S. authorities said that when agents questioned Smirnov again in 2023, he repeated some past false claims, changed other parts of his story and suggested new falsehoods after claiming to have met with Russian officials.
Smirnov was arrested at a Las Vegas airport on Wednesday, when he flew into the United States from overseas, the Justice Department said.
Sign up for Fact Checker, our weekly review of what's true, false or in-between in politics.
Alexander Smirnov, 43, is described in charging documents as a former confidential human source for the FBI who gave agents false information in 2020 about a prominent political figure and his son.
The description of the two individuals matches that of Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and a person familiar with the matter said those are the individuals about whom Smirnov lied. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.
The indictment returned by a grand jury in Los Angeles charges Smirnov with making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record.
For months, congressional Republicans have tried to use some FBI informant claims to argue that Hunter Biden — and President Biden — engaged in corrupt business deals and that the FBI did not pursue those claims.
Now, the same prosecutor who is seeking to convict Hunter Biden of gun and tax crimes has also brought charges against a person who allegedly made false claims of corruption against the Bidens.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...d=mc_magnet-hunter-biden_inline_collection_20
Thursday’s indictment implicitly argues that some of the most sensational charges Republicans have sought to level against President Biden and his son were based on lies.
Smirnov, according to the indictment, “transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against Public Official 1, the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties for President, after expressing bias against Public Official 1 and his candidacy.”
Authorities charge that Smirnov, in talking to his FBI handler, repeatedly expressed dislike for Joe Biden, and at one point texted the agent that Biden was "going to jail.”
Smirnov allegedly reported to an FBI agent in 2017 that he had a phone call with the owner of the Ukrainian firm Burisma, in which it was discussed that “Public Official 1’s son, was a member of Burisma’s Board” — which was publicly known information at the time.
In 2020, the indictment charges Smirnov brought new claims to the bureau, including that he knew of conversations from 2015 or 2016 in which Burisma executives said they hired the son “to protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems.”
Smirnov’s claims that he knew of those conversations were false, the indictment charges.
U.S. authorities said that when agents questioned Smirnov again in 2023, he repeated some past false claims, changed other parts of his story and suggested new falsehoods after claiming to have met with Russian officials.
Smirnov was arrested at a Las Vegas airport on Wednesday, when he flew into the United States from overseas, the Justice Department said.
