United States: Alexander Smirnov, the informant of Hunter Biden who has been accused of lying, has revealed that he has Russian ties.
The newly filed court documents say the accused of a fabricated story about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden each receiving $5 million in bribes had high-level Russian intelligence ties. Special Counsel David Weiss reveals in the filing that Alexander Smirnov told the FBI after his arrest last week, “that officials with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story” about Hunter Biden.
Prosecutors argued that Smirnov should wait without trial, Weiss said, citing Smirnov’s claims that he had active ties to “multiple foreign intelligence agencies” and had intended to leave the country just two days after his arrival in the US last week “for a months-long, multi-country foreign trip.”
However, a judge released Smirnov from custody, imposing conditions including surrendering his passport, wearing an ankle monitor and restricting travel to Nevada and California for court purposes only. Weiss in his filing notes that, “Foreign intelligence agencies could resettle Smirnov outside the United States if he were released.”
In his filing it is also marked that, “Smirnov’s efforts to spread misinformation about a candidate of one of the two major parties in the United States continue. What this shows is that the misinformation he is spreading is not confined to 2020. He is actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials in November. In light of that fact there is a serious risk he will flee in order to avoid accountability for his actions.”
The defence attorney denied Weiss’s claims that Smirnov had deceived the court’s pretrial services officer about his personal wealth. Attorney David Chesnoff stated that, when Smirnnov met with the officer he was “only asked about his personal assets and not the business account.”
Smirnov’s attorney did not directly address Weiss’s other claims about Smirnov’s extensive ties to Russian intelligence or other matters she says may have eluded prosecution. The developments come as Hunter Biden’s team pointed out that the informer’s alleged fabrications supported the plea deal.
Lawyers for Hunter Biden claimed in court that bribery allegations made by a newly indicted former FBI informant may have contributed to the collapse of their client’s plea deal with prosecutors last year.
Attorneys are largely arguing that Hunter Biden’s deal unravelled at the same time the Justice Department began scrutinizing the whistleblower’s claims about the Biden family scandal. Abe Lowell, the attorney for the president’s son, accused Weiss of following Smirnov “down his rabbit hole of lies.”
It is unclear from the court documents whether Hunter Biden’s collapse is connected to Smirnov’s allegations in any meaningful way. It is also not clear that Weiss ever found Smirnov’s allegations credible.
Weiss opened his investigation years after senior Justice Department officials determined that Smirnov’s allegations were not worth pursuing further. And the investigation came around the same time that Republican lawmakers publicly released an FBI document detailing the informant’s allegations, which the Justice Department now says were completely “fabricated.”
Smirnov’s allegations were not pursued further by senior Justice Department officials when Weiss opened his investigation. A public FBI document detailing the informant’s allegations, which the Justice Department now says were completely “fabricated,” was released around the same time as the investigation.
Specifically, last week Weiss filed felony false statement and obstruction charges against Smirnov for telling his FBI handler in 2020 that Biden and his son had taken $10 million in bribes from Ukrainian oligarchs when Joe Biden was running for the White House.
According to Weiss’s indictment against Smirnov, investigators pursuing Hunter Biden began examining the informant’s prior claims in July 2023. On July 26, 2023, shortly before the court hearing, the negotiated plea agreement with Hunter Biden fell apart.
Lowell in the court papers filed stated that, “Having taken Mr. Smirnov’s bait of grand, sensational charges, the plea deal. That was on the verge of being finalized suddenly became inconvenient for the prosecution, and it reversed course and repudiated those agreements. It now seems clear that the Smirnov allegations infected this case.”
According to Lowell, his allegation appeared in court filings intended to convince the judge that the Justice Department should turn over even more documents related to his client’s case.
After five years of investigation into Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, investigators reached a settlement last summer that would have allowed him to plead guilty to tax crimes in exchange for probation. Biden would also have agreed to a diversion on a separate gun charge, with the charge being dropped if certain conditions were met.
But that deal came under examination by a federal judge, whose questioning of the deal revealed splits between the two parties and prompted prosecutors to threaten Hunter Biden with additional charges under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
It was the possibility of FARA violations that prompted Lowell to accuse Weiss’ team of improperly reviewing Smirnov’s claim years after the FBI had determined it did. Hunter Biden was ultimately charged with three gun-related crimes in Delaware and three additional tax-related crimes in California by Weiss. In each case, Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty.
In the same filing Lowell remarked that it is embarrassing for the prosecutors to mistake sawdust for cocaine. A previous filing by Weiss’s office included a picture of Hunter Biden, who said he had lines of cocaine on his phone while he was buying the gun.
Lowell claims that the photo was sent by Hunter Biden’s then psychiatrist and showed it wasn’t cocaine, but sawdust. He further said that, “sounds more like a storyline from one of the 1980s Police Academy comedies than what should be expected in a high-profile prosecution by the U.S. Department of Justice.”
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