An
FBI informant has been accused of fabricating a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme
involving President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and a Ukrainian energy company, an allegation that is central to the Republican impeachment inquiry in Congress.
Alexander Smirnov
falsely reported to the FBI in June 2020
that executives associated with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid Hunter and Joe Biden $5 million each in 2015 or 2016, prosecutors said in an indictment.
Smirnov told his interlocutor that an executive
claimed to have hired Hunter Biden
to “protect us,
through his father
, from all kinds of problems,” according to court documents.
Prosecutors say that, in fact, Smirnov only had routine business dealings with the company in 2017 and made the bribery allegations
after he “expressed bias” against Joe Biden
while he was a presidential candidate.
The whistleblower's claims
have been central to the Republican effort in Congress
to investigate the president and his family, and helped trigger what is now a House impeachment inquiry into Biden.
Hunter Biden speaks to the media in Washington.
Photo: AP
Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer
has downplayed the importance of the whistleblower
.
"To be clear, the impeachment investigation is not dependent on the FBI's FD-1023," he said, referring to the form documenting Smirnov's allegations and stating that
the committee will continue to "follow the facts"
to determine whether to proceed with the impeachment investigation. articles of impeachment.
against Biden.
Hunter Biden is expected to appear before the committee later this month.
His attorney, Abbe Lowell, said
he had long warned that the investigation was based on “lies
told by people with political agendas, not facts.”
“We were right and the balloon ran out of air.”
Smirnov, 43, appeared briefly in court in Las Vegas on Thursday after being
charged with making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record
.
He did not plead guilty.
The judge ordered the courtroom cleared after federal public defender Margaret Wightman Lambrose requested a closed-door hearing for arguments over sealing court documents.
She declined to comment on the case.
Hunter Biden's attorney said the charges show the investigation is “based on dishonest witnesses and accusations.
Photo: Reuters
Hunter Biden's lawyer insisted that the charges show that the investigation
is “based on dishonest and uncredible witnesses and accusations.”
The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland,
called for an end to the Biden impeachment inquiry.
Raskin said Republicans' accusations against Biden "have always been a tissue of lies based on conspiracy theories."
He called on Chairman Mike Johnson, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, and House Republicans “to
stop promoting this nonsense
and
end their damned impeachment investigation
.”
With information from the Associated Press