WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans put on a defiant face Friday after the announcement FBI informant — the man whose allegations form the “heart” of his case against President Joe Biden, as one of the top House Republicans recently put it — has been charged with lying to the bureau about the president and his son Hunter Biden for political gain.
Alexander Smirnov, a 43-year-old FBI informant who joined the bureau in 2010, faces two felony charges: one for lying to a government agent and another for falsifying records in a federal investigation. Republicans in Congress have repeatedly raised the same false statements as part of their impeachment inquiry against the president.
Smirnov, who has no attorney listed in court documents, was arrested Thursday at the Las Vegas airport after disembarking from an international flight. The case against him will eventually proceed in a federal courthouse in California, but preliminary proceedings will be held in Nevada before federal magistrate judge Daniel J. Albregts.
Congressional Republicans have been quick to play down the indictment’s impact on their continuation impeachment inquiryalthough numerous leading Republicans have repeatedly pointed out As the mainstay of their investigation into the bribery charges against the Bidens that originated with Smirnov.
House Republicans even threatened to hold the FBI director in contempt last year to force the bureau to show them key documents that led to breathless headlines in conservative media outlets about false allegations that Biden and his son Hunter were paid. 5 million dollars in bribes.
A few weeks ago, one of the heads of the impeachment inquiry even cited Smirnov’s alleged lies to the FBI as the strongest evidence.
“To me, that’s really the heart of the matter,” said Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump and one of the architects of the impeachment effort. he said On January 11 appearance Fox News cited the FBI FD-1023 confidential human resources form as containing false allegations by a now-indicted former FBI informant. “The most corroborating evidence we have is form 1023 from this highly reliable confidential human source.”
Now, after the federal indictment of the source of those allegations, House Republicans say that wasn’t the “heart” of their inquiry.
The chairman of the House Oversight Committee, R-Ky., said in a statement that the impeachment case was not based on FBI FD-1023 by a Trump-appointed federal prosecutor. David Weissnow he says he is full of lies.
According to Comer, the impeachment case “is based on overwhelming evidence, including bank records and witness statements, that show Joe Biden’s family knew about and participated in business dealings.” engaged in his son’s business.
The entire saga began last May, when Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, publicly stated that the FBI was seeking “information” to claim it had a Form FD-1023 documenting “an alleged criminal scheme involving the then-Vice President.” flying” performed. President Biden and a foreign national on exchanging money for policy decisions.
In May, the FBI was rejected Comer expressed his desire to see the document, saying the policy “severely limits when and how human source information can be provided outside of the FBI.”
The FBI warned at the time that reports such as the one in question merely document information provided to the bureau and “do not corroborate, determine its reliability, or compare it with other information approved by the FBI,” warning that such unsubstantiated information “unfairly violates privacy or reputation.” “
Then, in early June, the FBI said it would give permission Comer and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, a ranking member of the Oversight Committee, to review and brief them on the redacted version of the FBI form. After that briefing, Comer threatened Initiating contempt proceedings against FBI Director Chris Wray for not turning over the form to the full committee. The bureau collapsed and is allowed All members of the Oversight Committee reviewed the document and Republicans dropped the contempt claim. GOP members of the committee made unsubstantiated claims about the uniform, saying it proved Biden committed a crime. Grassley finished liberates the document himself.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., he said After viewing an FBI document that found Biden “100% guilty” of bribery.
Elise Stefanik, a member of the New York House GOP leadership, spoke at length about the allegations in a “Fox & Friends” segment based on a June clip of Biden calling a question about the FBI file “dumb.”
“This is the biggest political corruption scandal, not only in my lifetime, but I would say in the last 100 years,” he said, adding that he would make sure House Republicans stick to the “facts.”
Stefanik in September pointed out Directly to the false claims of a “highly reliable FBI source” as a reason to open an investigation into Biden.
Sean Hannity on Fox News devoted at least 85 segments to the lawsuit research From Media Matters. But like media reporter Brian Stelter notedDespite the network, the whistleblower accusation was not mentioned at all on Fox’s prime-time shows Thursday after the case against Smirnov was unsealed. published a story on the Internet.
While Republicans have hailed the FBI bribery allegations as key evidence in their investigation, their probe into Hunter Biden and the president has stretched into several different areas: Hunter Biden’s business dealings with foreign governments and whether his father was involved, the investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes by two IRS informants allegations of interference and a theory that has been widely disproved then-Vice President Biden called for the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor to stop an investigation into Burisma, a company Hunter Biden worked for.
In a December briefing for reporters on the scope of the impeachment inquiry, Jordan specifically discussed Form FD-1023 as evidence that the Bidens may have received bribes, and said it could be a high crime or misdemeanor if Republicans brought the articles. on impeachment.
“When Joe Biden got the facts about his family’s business dealings, his son’s business dealings, when it turned out that everything he said was untrue — was that an obstruction?” Jordan said.
A spokesman for Grassley, who released the FBI document that has now been accused of being trumped up, said Friday that the charge against Smirnov was “not sufficient” and that “the public has a right to see all the underlying evidence supporting Biden.” The work of the Ministry of Justice. The Biden administration should do its job.”
The Justice Committee of the Jordanian House of Representatives responded to the news about the indictment transcript Committee interview of former US Attorney Scott Brady.
Brady, who was found He declined to say whether he believes Joe Biden is the legitimate president of the United States during an interview, citing “unbecoming” behavior during a dispute over the Justice Department’s handling of election cases by a Justice Department watchdog.