Allegations of corruption in Ukraine against Joe Biden’s son and cornering the president are a lie cooked up by an FBI informant

A An FBI informant has been accused of concocting a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and a Ukrainian energy company, an allegation that is central to the Republican impeachment inquiry in Congress.

Alexander Smirnov falsely reported to the FBI in June 2020 that executives associated with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid Hunter and Joe Biden $5 million each in 2015 or 2016, prosecutors said in an indictment. Smirnov told his interlocutor that a manager claimed to have hired Hunter Biden to protect us, through his fatherall kinds of problems,” according to court documents.

Prosecutors say Smirnov actually had routine business dealings with the company as recently as 2017 and has made allegations of corruption. after “expressing prejudice” against Joe Biden while he was a presidential candidate.

The informant’s statements they were central to the Republican effort in Congress to investigate the president and his family and helped trigger what is now a House impeachment inquiry into Biden.

The Chairman of the Supervisory Committee, James Comer, he downplayed the importance of the informant. “To be clear, the impeachment investigation does not hinge on the FBI’s FD-1023,” she said, referring to the form documenting Smirnov’s allegations and stating that the committee will continue to “follow the facts” to decide whether to proceed with the articles of impeachment. against Biden.

Hunter Biden is expected to appear before the committee later this month. His lawyer, Abbot Lowell, said so had long warned that the investigation was based on “lies “said by people with political agendas, not in facts.” “We were right and the ball ran out of air.”

Smirnov, 43, appeared briefly in court in Las Vegas later Thursday be accused of making false statements and drafting false and fictitious documents. He did not plead guilty. The judge ordered the courtroom cleared after federal public defender Margaret Wightman Lambrose requested a closed-door hearing for discussions about sealing court records. She declined to comment on the case.

Hunter Biden’s lawyer insisted that the charges prove that the investigation It is based “on dishonest and not very credible testimonies and accusations”.

The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, called for an end to the Biden impeachment inquiry.

Raskin said Republicans’ accusations against Biden “have always been a fabric of lies based on conspiracy theories.” He asked President Mike Johnson, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and House Republicans “to do it stop promoting this nonsense AND End your failed impeachment investigation”.