Ethics

Hunter Biden: Whistleblower Charged With Lying to FBI

FEB 16 2024·Updated FEB 22 2024

Story

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The Facts

The Justice Department (DOJ) on Thursday arrested Alexander Smirnov, who as an FBI informant claimed Pres. Joe Biden and his son Hunter were involved in corrupt deals with Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, for lying to the bureau.
BBC News
Smirnov was charged with two counts of allegedly lying to the FBI. The DOJ claims Smirnov falsely said Burisma said it hired Hunter to "protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems" and he also lied when he said Burisma paid the Bidens $5M.
CNBC
The DOJ believes Smirnov's claim that Burisma paid off the Bidens while the elder Biden was US vice president, so that it could stop a 2016 criminal investigation into the company, was false because he didn't develop contact with Burisma until after Biden left office.
FOX News
The indictment, which was brought as part of special counsel David Weiss' prosecution of Hunter Biden on gun and tax charges, also included text messages from Smirnov to his FBI handler in 2020, in which he said Biden was "going to jail" and that Democrats had "tried to impeach [Trump] for same."
wsj.com
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee and one of the leaders of the impeachment inquiry of the president, called the FBI's actions "very concerning" since his request for a form containing Smirnov's testimony had been rebuffed because the bureau wanted to protect a credible source.
FOX News
Comer accused the FBI of not doing anything to verify Smirnov's testimony until the Congressional request was made. Comer added that Republicans aren't relying on Smirnov's testimony in their impeachment inquiry.
FOX News

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The Spin

Democratic narrative

Unsurprisingly, House Republicans' star witness is a fraud. The FBI kept Smirnov's testimony under wraps because it knew it contained biased and unsubstantiated claims the GOP would've celebrated as true. Even Republicans knew Smirnov was shady, but they were willing to look the other way in order to advance their fraudulent impeachment inquiry.

The New Republic

Republican narrative

If Weiss really didn't investigate Smirnov's claims until recently, this is an impeachable dereliction of duty. Smirnov's claims were serious, and now it seems almost too convenient that his indictment might overshadow legitimate evidence against the Bidens. In addition, if the DOJ is in the mood for indicting informants it should go after those who fabricated evidence in the Trump-Russia collusion hoax.

The Federalist