US President Joe Biden | Photo: EFE/EPA/SAMUEL CORUM
A former FBI informant was indicted this Thursday (15) for making false statements about the involvement of US President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden in the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
According to the indictment, Alexander Smirnov fabricated a story about multimilliondollar bribes that Burisma paid to Biden in return for political protection.
Smirnov, 43, is currently accused of making false statements to the FBI and creating a false record of his statements in 2020, when Biden was still a presidential candidate.
At the time, he said he met with Burisma executives in 2015 or 2016 who admitted to hiring Hunter Biden to “protect us from all sorts of problems through his father.” He also said that the company paid both Joe and Hunter Biden $5 million each when Joe Biden was still vice president. This would allow Hunter, according to Smirnov, to “take care of all these matters through his father,” referring to a criminal investigation into Burisma by the then Ukrainian prosecutor general.
The indictment filed by Justice Department special counsel David Weiss alleges that Smirnov lied about these facts and that he actually had his first contact with Burisma only in 2017, after the end of the ObamaBiden administration (20092017). and after the dismissal of the Ukrainian prosecutor general in February 2016.
The indictment also alleges that Smirnov expressed “bias” against Biden and his presidential candidacy and that in September 2023 he changed his story and fabricated a new false narrative about a meeting with Russian officials.
Special Counsel Wiess was also responsible for indicting Hunter Biden for illegal weapons possession and tax evasion.
Smirnov was arrested this Thursday at Las Vegas airport after entering the United States from abroad. He appeared in federal court in Nevada that same afternoon. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 25 years in prison.
The allegations against Smirnov could complicate allegations by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives who are conducting an impeachment inquiry against Biden, who is currently investigating his family's business dealings abroad. Republicans used the FBI document containing Smirnov's false statements as part of their investigation against the president.
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