Alexander Smirnov, 43, disliked President Joe Biden, according to the Justice Department. He was arrested in Las Vegas after returning from a trip overseas.
NBC NEWS
WASHINGTON — An FBI informant has been indicted on two counts for allegedly feeding the bureau false information about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign.
Alexander Smirnov, 43, disliked Joe Biden and was arrested in Las Vegas after returning from a trip overseas, according to the Justice Department. The case grew out of the special counsel investigation being led by David Weiss, who is also leading the case against Hunter Biden. Weiss had been appointed by then-President Donald Trump as the top federal prosecutor in Delaware.
The 37-page indictment alleges that Smirnov had been a confidential human source for the FBI since 2010 and “provided false derogatory information to the FBI” about both Bidens after Joe Biden became a candidate for president in 2020.
He is facing one count of making a false statement to a government agent and falsification of records in a federal investigation.
Smirnov allegedly told the FBI — falsely — that officials with Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company that Hunter Biden worked for, had told him they hired Hunter Biden because he would “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems.” Smirnov allegedly told the FBI — again, falsely — that Burisma officials had told him they paid Hunter Biden and Joe Biden $5 million and that it would take investigators 10 years to find the illicit payments to Joe Biden.
A source familiar with the matter told NBC News that Hunter Biden does not know the individual who was charged and does not believe he ever met him.
An attorney for Hunter Biden told NBC News that Republicans had been warned that they “built their conspiracies about Hunter and his family on lies told by people with agendas, not facts.”
“This is just another instance of Chairman [James] Comer and [Rep. Jim] Jordan peddling falsehoods based on dishonest, uncredible allegations and witnesses,” Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s attorney, continued in the statement.
House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin called for an end to the impeachment inquiry following the announcement of the indictment against Smirnov.
Smirnov’s account was critical to Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into the president.
