President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden on Thursday were handed a huge legal win by the announcement of charges against an FBI informant who was central to a Republican inquiry to impeach Biden.
Special counsel David Weiss, an appointee of former President Donald Trump who was appointed to lead the investigation into Hunter Biden by Attorney General Merrick Garland, announced charges against 43-year-old Alexander Smirnov on Thursday for allegedly making false statements and manufacturing false records concerning Biden's business dealings in Ukraine.
The Context
Prior to leading the Biden investigation, Weiss was appointed as a U.S. attorney for the district of Delaware by Trump. The former president has been among the loudest Republican voices calling for repercussions against the current president and his son for alleged corrupt business dealings in Ukraine.
Smirnov's claim that Joe Biden accepted a bribe, which he made as a "confidential human source" for the FBI, was at the heart of the impeachment inquiry that House Republicans launched against the president last year. The charges against him could derail what many already saw as a shambolic effort to impeach Biden.
What We Know
Weiss said in a release on Thursday that a federal grand jury indicted Smirnov on felony charges of making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record, which carry a combined maximum prison sentence of 25 years.
The indictment alleges that Smirnov's claims to the FBI in June 2020, which alleged that executives at Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid the Bidens "$5 million each" in exchange for favors from the then-vice president, were "fabrications."
"The defendant transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against [Joe Biden] after expressing bias against [Biden] and his presidential candidacy," the release from Weiss states.
"When he was interviewed by FBI agents in September 2023, Smirnov repeated some of his false claims, changed his story as to other of his claims, and promoted a new false narrative after he said he met with Russian officials," it continues.
Newsweek reached out for comment to the White House via email on Thursday evening.
Views
Democrats quickly responded to the indictment by demanding that Republicans drop their impeachment inquiry and urging GOP Congressman James Comer of Kentucky, who is leading the inquiry, to "apologize" to the president.
"James Comer's lead informant in his sham impeachment against POTUS was just indicted for lying and making up his claims," Representative Robert Garcia of California wrote in a post to X, formerly Twitter. "We demand Comer apologize to the President and end this political stunt immediately. What a joke."
"James Comer's star witness against Joe Biden was just charged by the TRUMP-APPOINTED Special Counsel with making false claims," posted Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett of Texas. "THIS is the informant who provided the core 'evidence' in the GOP impeachment investigation. According to a federal grand jury, he made it all up."
Comer responded to Newsweek's request for comment with the following statement:
"Last year when Senator Grassley brought the existence of an FD-1023 containing allegations against then-Vice President Biden to our attention, we sought the unclassified FD-1023 form from the FBI. FBI officials and Director Wray refused to release the form publicly because they claimed it would jeopardize the safety of a confidential human source who they claimed was invaluable to the FBI.
"When asked by the committee about their confidence in the confidential human source, the FBI told the committee the confidential human source was credible and trusted, had worked with the FBI for over a decade, and had been paid six figures. The FBI's actions in this matter are very concerning.
"The FBI had this form for years and it appears they did nothing to verify the troubling claims contained within the record until Congress became aware of and demanded access to them... To be clear, the impeachment inquiry is not reliant on the FBI's FD-1023..."
What's Next
Neither Comer nor any other House Republicans have indicated that they intend to drop the impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden. Hours before news of the Smirnov indictment emerged on Thursday, Comer announced on Fox News that he was issuing "subpoenas to major credit card financial institutions" as part of the inquiry.
Meanwhile, Hunter Biden is facing separate charges of tax evasion and illegal gun possession, which arose as part of Weiss' investigation. A trial for the tax charges is set to begin in June. Biden has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Update 02/16/24 2:04 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to include a statement from Representative James Comer.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
