Federal prosecutors said on Wednesday that the bombshell claims at the heart of an impeachment investigation of President Joe Biden were untrue and originated from an ex-FBI informant who claimed to have contact with Russian intelligence.
Federal prosecutors said on Wednesday that Alexander Smirnov, the informant, is “actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections” as they urged a judge to keep him in custody pending trial on allegations that he misled the FBI about a fictitious multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving the Bidens and the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
An Examination of the Accused Russian Agent’s Ties to US Elections
Although they have expressed excitement about defending him in court, the defense team has not specifically refuted the prosecution’s allegations regarding links with Russian intelligence. Here is an overview of Smirnov’s background, the evidence against him, and concerns regarding possible ramifications for US elections:
According to court filings, prosecutors stated that Smirnov had been an informant since 2010 and had become close to an FBI handler with whom he communicated “nearly every day.” According to court filings, he began meeting with Burisma officials in the spring of 2017 because the company was considering purchasing an American business and conducting an IPO on a US stock exchange.
According to the prosecution, he possesses over $6 million, part of which is kept in the name of his long-term companion. Prosecutors said that he had just given his handler access to guest lists from lavish boat parties attended by Russian oligarchs.
According to the prosecution, he was born in the United States and then resided in Israel for over ten years before relocating to Los Angeles and eventually Las Vegas in 2022.
Smirnov is accused of fabricating reports that, in 2015, Burisma executives paid Joe and Hunter Biden $5 million apiece for joining the company’s board and helping to “protect us” from the then-Ukrainian prosecutor general’s probe. Hunter Biden is the target of separate weapons and tax accusations brought by the Justice Department’s special counsel.
There is no proof that Joe Biden took bribes or engaged in corrupt behavior while serving as vice president or in his present position.
Smirnov’s Defense Secures Pretrial Release Despite Bribery Allegations
Prosecutors argued that Smirnov had only ordinary commercial transactions with Burisma and that they had begun in 2017, following the resignation of the prosecutor general and Joe Biden’s inability to influence U.S. policy due to his lack of office.
Prosecutors said that Smirnov “expressed bias” toward Joe Biden before he brought up the bribery claims in June 2020, years after they were purported to have happened. According to charging documents, an FBI field office looked into the claims and suggested that the investigation be concluded in August 2020.
Smirnov’s defense team successfully argued for his release from custody before to trial, arguing that he was considered innocent. U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Albregts of Las Vegas stated on Tuesday that although he was worried about Smirnov’s financial resources, he was also required by federal rules to provide “the least restrictive conditions” before trial. That ruling is being appealed by the prosecution.
In court filings, prosecutors detailed Smirnov’s “extensive and extremely recent” interactions with individuals associated with Russian intelligence. According to court filings, Smirnov had disclosed to his FBI handler that he had communicated with representatives of “multiple” foreign intelligence services, including those connected to Russian intelligence.
He was sharing information about meetings with Russian officials as recently as December, according to court documents. One of them mentioned that the calls made by well-known Americans had been intercepted by the nation’s intelligence services, which “the Russian government may use as ‘kompromat’ in the 2024 election, depending on who the candidates will be,” to use a term for compromising material.
Prosecutors said that he had encouraged his handler to look into if Hunter Biden had been filmed at a Ukrainian hotel, which was a fake report from months earlier. Court filings state that the president’s son has never visited Ukraine. For years, experts in national security have cautioned that foreign governments, especially those in Russia, China, and Iran, seek to weaken the United States and see elections as a means to achieve this goal.
Microsoft issued a danger assessment around the end of last year, stating that Russia continues to pose “the most committed and capable threat to the 2024 election.” The Kremlin views the election as a “must-win political warfare battle” that might decide how it will proceed in its conflict with Ukraine. The Republican attempt in Congress to look into the president and his family has been heavily reliant on Smirnov’s allegations, which also served as the impetus for the House investigation into Biden’s impeachment.
