Special counsel David Weiss charged a former FBI informant with lying to the bureau about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter involvement in business dealings with Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings.
Alexander Smirnov, 43, was charged with making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record. He was arrested Thursday at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, after returning to the US from overseas.
According to the indictment, during Biden’s campaign for the presidency, Smirnov told the FBI that officials with Burisma had told him they hired Hunter Biden because he would “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems.”
Smirnov also falsely told the bureau that Burisma officials told him they paid Joe and Hunter Biden $5 million while Biden was vice-president so that Hunter would “take care of all those issues through his dad,” referring to a then-criminal investigation of Burisma by Ukrainian officials.
The DOJ now says Smirnov claims “were fabrications,” and, in truth, he only “had contact with executives from Burisma in 2017,” when Joe Biden had left office as vice president and “had no ability” to influence U.S. policy.
“In 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,” the indictment says.
The allegations are a massive blow to House Republicans’ attempt to impeach Biden on accusations that he benefiting financially from his son’s business dealings in Ukraine.
