A California district judge has suggested that the lawyer for a former FBI informant falsely accused of accepting bribes from President Biden was planning to help his client escape ahead of his trial.
In a brief order unsealed Friday, Judge Otis Wright said lawyers for confidential source Alexander Smirnov suspect he was planning to leave the United States just one day after his second arrest. said.
“It has been brought to the attention of this court that the defendant’s attorneys are likely to facilitate defendant Smirnov’s flight from the United States and have requested an emergency hearing in Nevada to arrange for defendant’s release.” ,” attorney Wright said. I have written In order.
The judge offered no evidence of his claim.
Mr. Smirnov was initially arrested in Las Vegas last week on charges of making false statements to the FBI. The incident risks unwinding House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into Biden.
During the investigation, Republicans often pointed to Mr. Smirnov’s conversations with the FBI in which he said the head of Ukrainian energy company Burisma had paid Mr. Biden and his son Hunter Biden at least $5 million. I can do it.
But Smirnov’s lawyer disputed Wright’s claim that he was a flight risk.
In a filing late Friday, the lawyers said they were only working together in the office on Mr. Smirnov’s defense case.
“It should be noted that at the time of his second arrest, Mr. Smirnov was already a free man and practicing law in a law firm,” Smirnov’s lawyers wrote.
“This is not what you would expect from someone who is preparing to jump bail and flee the country. On the contrary, if he had not been rearrested, Mr. Smirnov would have volunteered with his lawyer to attend the next hearing. would have gone to Los Angeles,” they added.
His lawyers appealed his detention, saying he should have been tried in Nevada before being transferred to California. A hearing has already been scheduled for February 26 in Los Angeles, according to the Associated Press.
The Hill has reached out to Smirnov’s attorney for comment.
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