On December 17, 2024, it was reported that a former FBI informant would admit on Monday, December 16, to lying in the investigation involving Republican congressmen’s impeachment of President Joe Biden.
On December 13, 2023, the House of Representatives voted to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. On August 19, 2024, the opening day of the Democratic National Convention, Republican members of the House of Representatives released a preliminary impeachment inquiry report against President Biden. This nearly 300-page report accused Hunter Biden and his family of abusing power and obstructing justice in financial transactions. The report alleged that the Biden family used their “brand” in a corrupt manner for business investments, meeting the high standard required for impeachment under the Constitution.
According to court documents, Alexander Smirnov is expected to defend himself in Los Angeles against felony charges related to lying about the case involving the Bidens, as well as unrelated charges of concealing millions in income to evade taxes.
Prosecutors and Smirnov’s defense lawyer reached a plea agreement, under which prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence of four to six years of imprisonment for Smirnov.
Smirnov was arrested in February of this year and has been in custody since. He was accused of lying to FBI investigators by claiming that executives of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid President Biden and Hunter Biden $5 million each around 2015.
It is still unclear what motivated Smirnov to lie and whether he provided any supporting evidence.
Prosecutors stated that Smirnov had been an informant for over a decade before making explosive allegations against the Bidens in June 2020 and had expressed bias against Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate.
According to court documents, Smirnov did not have regular business dealings with Burisma until 2017.
The FBI’s field office investigated these allegations and had recommended closing the case in August 2020, stating that there was no evidence to suggest that Joe Biden engaged in corruption or bribery during his time as President or Vice President.
Before Smirnov’s arrest, Republicans had asked the FBI to release unedited forms.
In September 2023, Smirnov claimed in conversations with FBI investigators that Russians “might” have recordings of Hunter Biden because a hotel in the Ukrainian capital where Hunter stayed had been “bugged” and controlled by Russians. He said this information was passed on to him by four senior Russian officials.
According to the indictment against Smirnov, Hunter Biden had never been to Ukraine.
Smirnov claimed to have contacts with Russian intelligence officials and told the FBI after his arrest this year that “officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing him information about Hunter Biden.”
David Weiss, the special counsel prosecuting Smirnov, had previously charged Hunter Biden with gun and tax offenses. Hunter Biden was found guilty in the gun case and admitted to federal charges in the tax case. He was supposed to be sentenced this month but was pardoned by his father, who stated that he believed “corrupt politics had affected the process, leading to an injustice.”
(This article references reports from the Associated Press)