An FBI informant, Alexander Smirnov, has been charged with fabricating a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden, his son Hunter, and a Ukrainian energy company.
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 say Smirnov had only routine business dealings with the company in 2017 and made the bribery allegations after expressing bias against Joe Biden while he was a presidential candidate.
The informant’s claims have been central to the Republican effort in Congress to investigate the president and his family, and helped spark what is now a House impeachment inquiry into Biden. Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said the charges show the probe is “based on dishonest, uncredible allegations and witnesses.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland called for an end to the Biden impeachment inquiry, calling on Speaker Mike Johnson, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, and House Republicans to stop promoting this nonsense and end their doomed impeachment inquiry.The impeachment inquiry into Biden over his son’s business dealings has lagged in the House, but the panel is pushing ahead with its work.
Hunter Biden is expected to appear before the committee later this month. His attorney, Abbe Lowell, said he had long warned the probe was based on “lies told by people with political agendas, not facts.” A judge set a detention hearing for Smirnov, who was arrested at the Las Vegas airport after arriving in the U.S. from overseas.
(AP)
