An FBI informant has been charged with lying to his handlers about Joe Biden, his son Hunter, and their ties to a Ukrainian energy company.
Alexander Smirnov falsely testified to FBI agents in June 2020 that executives connected to the Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid Hunter Biden and Joe Biden $5 million each in 2015 and 2016. prosecutors announced Thursday.
Smirnov claimed to the FBI that Burisma executives hired Hunter Biden “to protect us from all kinds of problems through his father,” prosecutors said in a statement.
The allegations became a flashpoint in Congress over the summer as Republicans pressed the FBI to release unredacted documents documenting the allegations as they investigated Biden and his family. They acknowledged at the time that it was unclear whether the allegations were true.
This new development significantly undermines the corruption claims by Congressional Republicans that the US president profited from his son Hunter’s dealings in Ukraine.
Smirnov, 43, was charged with making false statements and creating false and fictitious records. No attorney was immediately listed on his behalf in court records.
Smirnov was charged with making false statements and creating false and fictitious records and made a brief appearance in a Las Vegas courtroom on Thursday. He did not enter a plea. The judge ordered the courtroom vacated after federal public defender Margaret Wightman Lambrose requested a closed hearing for arguments regarding the sealing of court documents. She declined to comment on the matter.
The charges were brought by Justice Department Special Counsel David Weiss, and Mr. Hunter is separately charged with firearms violations and tax violations.
Hunter’s legal team did not return messages seeking comment.
The informant’s allegations have been at the center of congressional Republicans’ efforts to investigate the president and his family, and sparked the impeachment inquiry against Biden currently underway in the House of Representatives.
Prosecutors allege that Mr. Smirnov was in contact with Burisma executives on a daily basis, and that it actually took place in 2017, after President Barack Obama and Vice President Biden left office. , at a time when Mr. Biden would not have had that ability. Influence U.S. policy.
Smirnov “changed his routine and non-routine business contacts with Burisma in 2017, and subsequently expressed bias against civil servants 1 and his candidacy, after which he became the presumptive leader of one of the president’s two major political parties. “The charges were changed to bribery charges against Public Official 1, who is a candidate,” the indictment reads.
When questioned by FBI agents last September, he repeated some of the false claims, changed his story about others, and “made new falsehoods after saying he had met with Russian officials.” and spread the word,” prosecutors said.
If convicted, Smirnov could face up to 25 years in prison.
As Republicans deepen their investigation into the president and Hunter in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, a Republican representing Kentucky, last year asked for so-called FD-1023 documents. He had submitted a subpoena to the FBI.
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa worked with Comer to release unclassified documents that Republicans at the time claimed were important to the Hunter investigation.
This is in addition to information widely broadcast during Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial regarding Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to dig dirt on the Biden family ahead of the 2020 election. be. The White House said at the time that this claim had been debunked over the years.
Biden’s impeachment inquiry into his son’s business dealings has been delayed in the House, but committees are moving forward. Hunter is scheduled to appear before the committee later this month for an interview.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
