Arrest of FBI informant looms over GOP grilling of Biden’s brother

On Wednesday, Republicans who had hoped to grill President Biden’s younger brother were turned to the defense over the days-old indictment of an alleged FBI informant against the president, who was at the center of the GOP’s impeachment inquiry.

For more than eight hours in private, Republicans on the House Oversight Committee pressed Biden on details surrounding years of domestic and foreign financial dealings. It’s a marathon cross-examination of blockbuster witnesses designed to advance Republican allegations of financial fraud. by the president and his family.

But looming large over the day’s proceedings was last week’s arrest of FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, who provided information central to Republican charges of corruption and growing influence over the president. The Department of Justice (DOJ) fabricated allegations against the president and lied to the FBI, including claims that Biden and his son Hunter Biden each received $5 million in bribes from a Ukrainian energy company. Mr. Smirnov was charged with the crime.

The storm surrounding Smirnov grew even louder with Tuesday’s release Department of Justice submissions It was revealed that Smirnov told government agencies that he received information about Hunter Biden from “Russian intelligence officials.”

For Republicans, these developments are ill-timed, giving Democrats new ammunition to attack the impeachment process and at the same time Republican leaders are celebrating the opportunity to censure the president’s younger brother in the investigation. was forced to defend.

Democrats were quick to attack.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.) said, “The impeachment inquiry was sparked by the explosive revelation that Mr. Smirnov’s allegations about Ukrainian Burisma payments to Joe Biden were fabricated with Russian agents. But it essentially ended yesterday.” The Oversight Committee’s top Democrat spoke to reporters during a break in a deposition Wednesday at the Capitol.

“Everything is not only obviously false and fraudulent, but also appears to be the product of Russian disinformation and propaganda,” he added. “And that has been the driving force behind this investigation for over a year.”

But Republicans have downplayed the significance of Smirnov’s arrest, insisting their case remains unsolved despite the informant’s indictment.

“Well, that’s what it is,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told reporters. “The basic facts remain the same.”

“These facts don’t change, no matter what this confidential source says,” Smirnov said of Mr. Smirnov, after denying a number of Republican claims about Hunter Biden and his time on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

Others are trying to flip the script on the FBI, asking why the agency has employed Mr. Smirnov for so long and why Republicans and Democrats briefed on his allegations have turned to their confidential sources. I doubt whether he said he was trustworthy.

“I don’t think this guy has paid them since 2010, but they’ve been paying this guy for 14 years. He’s been a trusted source, and now he’s… It turns out that’s not the case,” Jordan said.

Rep. William Timmons (R.S.C.), a former prosecutor, gave another reason for Republicans to move ahead with the investigation. That’s simply because Republicans don’t trust the Justice Department to have the right relationship with Mr. Smirnov.

“I’ve been a member of Congress and a prosecutor for five years, and I don’t trust the criminal justice system,” Timmons said. “I don’t trust the judges in New York. I don’t trust the prosecutors in Georgia. I don’t trust the Justice Department.”

The president’s younger brother’s high-profile appearance at the Capitol was the latest in a months-long political drama between the president, who is up for re-election this year, and House Republicans, who have launched an impeachment inquiry against him centered on financial accusations. It’s just an act. Cheating. Hunter Biden is scheduled to testify privately before the Oversight and Judiciary Committee next week.

Republicans have not provided clear evidence to support these charges. But as they dig deeper into the president’s brother and son’s complicated business history, they claim they are getting closer to the president’s involvement.

“There is [an] Massive circumstantial evidence that Hunter and Jim sold the brand and that Joe Biden benefited financially from it. So we’re going to see if that’s true,” Timmons said. “That’s why we’re here.”

Republican interest in James Biden centers on two checks his brother wrote to Joe Biden while he was out of office. Republicans suggested the exchange was evidence the Bidens were involved in a bribery scheme and dismissed the “loan repayment” message in the memo section of the check as evidence of nothing.

“You can’t just write ‘loan repayment’ on a check and be fine,” Timmons said. “So we’re going to figure out what exactly that loan was for.”

first check The book, worth $200,000, was written by James Biden as repayment for an unrelated loan after he received a loan from Amecore Health. James Biden reportedly told his medical company that his name could “open doors” to the Middle East, but to no avail in the end. Loan payments have nothing to do with working abroad.

Another check is Priced at $40,000, it was written after Hunter Biden signed a contract with Chinese energy company CEFC, which Hunter wired to James Biden. The president’s brother then used some of those funds to repay Joe Biden. Republicans have cited the checks as part of their argument that the president received laundered funds from China.

James Biden hit back at accusations over the payments Wednesday, explaining in his opening statement that he sought loans from family, friends, business partners and financial institutions “many times” his financial obligations exceeded his available funds.

“These are short-term loans that I received when Joe was a civilian, and I paid them back within weeks,” James Biden said in his opening remarks.

“He had no information whatsoever about the source of the funds that I used to pay him back,” the younger Biden continued. “The full explanation is that Joe lent me money and I paid it back as soon as I had the funds.”

James Biden also testified that his brother had “no role, no involvement in, and no benefit from” his work at Amecore and CEFC.

Those claims are enough to satisfy President Biden’s Democratic supporters, who have accused Republicans of waging a political witch hunt solely designed to damage the president’s re-election chances.

“He was not involved in any way and did not receive any money from them. He was not a business partner or business associate,” Raskin said. “It’s been established over and over again.”

But Republicans aren’t willing to take the president’s brother at his word, and several Republican senators said in testimony Wednesday that Biden contradicted some of his opening statements during questioning. became.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) said James Biden told lawmakers he had no knowledge that CEFC, which directed millions of dollars to accounts controlled by the Biden family, had ties to the Chinese government. said.

“Believing in James Biden is the same as believing that China’s major energy companies were somehow not connected to the Chinese government,” Gaetz said. “It doesn’t pass the head-on test.”

Democrats have not fully defended James Biden and Hunter Biden’s business practices, but Republicans say they have not presented any concrete evidence that the president directly benefits from his family’s financial dealings. Pointed out right away. This is the core charge in the Republican impeachment inquiry, an allegation undermined by Mr. Smirnov’s arrest.

Smirnov is not the only setback Republicans have faced this year as they pursue an impeachment inquiry.

Last month, two of Hunter Biden’s business partners, Rob Walker and Eric Schwerin, testified privately before the Oversight Committee. Both men forcefully stated that President Biden is not involved in his son’s business.

But they scored a key victory last month when Hunter Biden agreed to testify privately as part of the Republican impeachment inquiry. The approval of the deposition is scheduled for February 28 and comes after months of battle between Hunter Biden’s team and Republicans on the Oversight and Judiciary Committee. Republicans say the younger Biden’s testimony is crucial to their case against the president.

While the main focus on Wednesday was the transcription of James Biden’s interview, Republicans were already looking ahead to next week’s highly anticipated deposition with Hunter Biden.