Former FBI informant charged with lying about the Bidens바카라 게임 웹사이트 role in Ukraine business
Special counsel David Weiss charged a former FBI informant with lying about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden바카라 게임 웹사이트s involvement in business dealings with Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings, undercutting a major aspect of Republicans바카라 게임 웹사이트 impeachment inquiry into the president.
Alexander Smirnov, 43, is facing charges in connection with lying to the FBI and creating false records. He was arrested Thursday at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, after his arrival in the U.S. from overseas, and will make his initial appearance in federal court Thursday afternoon.
CNN is working to determine whether Smirnov has an attorney.
The indictment alleges that Smirnov바카라 게임 웹사이트s story to the FBI 바카라 게임 웹사이트was a fabrication, an amalgam of otherwise unremarkable business meetings and contacts that had actually occurred but at a later date than he claimed and for the purpose of pitching Burisma on the Defendant바카라 게임 웹사이트s services and products, not for discussing bribes to [Joe Biden] when he was in office.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Congressional Republicans have championed Smirnov바카라 게임 웹사이트s now-discredited allegations for roughly a year, though not by name. They fought with the FBI to obtain memos about what Smirnov told investigators and publicly released the materials over the FBI바카라 게임 웹사이트s objections. The congressional Republicans repeatedly praised Smirnov as 바카라 게임 웹사이트credible바카라 게임 웹사이트 and put his uncorroborated claims front-and-center in their into the president.
While the impeachment inquiry, then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said 바카라 게임 웹사이트a trusted FBI informant has alleged a bribe to the Biden family.바카라 게임 웹사이트
The FBI is now using some of the same memos that congressional Republicans released as part of their indictment against Smirnov.
According to court records, Smirnov told an FBI agent that he had spoken with the owner of Burisma about the company바카라 게임 웹사이트s efforts to buy a company in the United States.
As part of his report to the FBI, the indictment alleges, Smirnov also noted that someone referred to as 바카라 게임 웹사이트Businessperson 1바카라 게임 웹사이트 was on the board of Burisma and was also the son of an individual referred to as 바카라 게임 웹사이트Public Official 1.바카라 게임 웹사이트 Though the indictment does not identify these individuals, sources identified 바카라 게임 웹사이트Public Official 1바카라 게임 웹사이트 as Joe Biden and 바카라 게임 웹사이트Businessperson 1바카라 게임 웹사이트 as Hunter Biden.
During Joe Biden바카라 게임 웹사이트s campaign for presidency, Smirnov allegedly submitted reports to the FBI about two meetings with Burisma executives from 2015 and 2016, during which the executives admitted that they hired Hunter Biden to 바카라 게임 웹사이트protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems.바카라 게임 웹사이트 Smirnov also allegedly reported that executives paid $5 million each to Joe and Hunter Biden while Joe Biden was vice president so that Hunter would 바카라 게임 웹사이트take care of all those issues through his dad,바카라 게임 웹사이트 referring to a criminal investigation being conducted by the then-Ukrainian prosecutor general into Burisma.
바카라 게임 웹사이트In truth and fact, the Defendant had contact with executives from Burisma in 2017, after the end of the Obama-Biden Administration and after the then Ukrainian Prosecutor General had been fired in February 2016, in other words, when [Joe Biden] had no ability to influence U.S. policy and when the Prosecutor General was no longer in office,바카라 게임 웹사이트 the indictment states.
It continues, 바카라 게임 웹사이트In short, the Defendant transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against [Joe Biden], the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties for President, after expressing bias against [Joe Biden] and his candidacy.바카라 게임 웹사이트
This story has been updated with additional details.