House Republicans have launched a probe into the Justice Department’s indictment of Alexander Smirnov, a once-trusted confidential human source (CHS). In a letter to the FBI Director Christopher Wray Friday, House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) demanded that the FBI turn over records related to the indictment, the Federalist reported.
Last month, Special counsel David Weiss charged Smirnov with making false claims about Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden’s involvement in business dealings with Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings.
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released an FBI document last July known as an FD-1023 form, that detailed Smirnov’s shocking allegations about the Biden family’s corruption and bribery schemes, including his claim that the head of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma told him he paid both President Biden and his son Hunter Biden $5 million each.
On February 14, Smirnov was charged with lying to his FBI handler and falsifying records. The 43-year-old pled not guilty to charges of fabricating the multimillion-dollar bribery scheme. His trial is scheduled to begin on April 23 in Los Angeles.
A federal judge in Los Angeles ruled on Monday that Smirnov must remain jailed until trial due to fears that he is a flight risk.
The Republican lawmakers are questioning the FBI’s “sudden about-face” on the once highly regarded CHS.
Margot Cleveland, The Federalist’s Senior Legal Correspondent, made note this week of the DOJ’s double standard when it comes to prosecuting informants.
“In contrast to the Russia-collusion hoax, which rested solely on the Steele dossier to paint Trump as a Putin patsy, evidence of Biden family corruption is comprehensive, diverse, and comes from their own mouths, texts, emails, and loyalists,” she wrote at the Federalist.
After the indictment was announced last month, Cleveland noted that “If Smirnov lied to his handler in June 2020 about his conversations with Burisma executives, the indictment is well deserved.”
However, after a deep examination of the indictment, journalist Stephen McIntyre is questioning whether Smirnov actually did lie to his handler.
McIntyre reported on SubStack that Weiss may well have “totally screwed up chronology in the 2020 FD2023.”
In their letter to Wray, the chairmen pointed out that Smirnov was treated as a highly trusted and valued source before he provided damaging information about Biden.
“Prior to the indictment, the FBI allowed Mr. Smirnov to serve as a CHS for over 14 years and earn a six-figure income, while maintaining ‘extensive and extremely recent’ foreign intelligence contacts,” lawmakers wrote. “Only after Mr. Smirnov reported that President Joe Biden accepted a bribe from a Ukrainian energy company in exchange for using his official position to oust the Ukrainian Prosecutor General did the FBI apparently take a hard look at this CHS.”
The FD-1023 form was just one piece of evidence among a mountain of evidence examined by the House Oversight Committee as part of its investigation into the Biden family’s influence peddling.
“To be clear, the impeachment inquiry is not reliant on the FBI’s FD-1023. It is based on a large record of evidence, including bank records and witness testimony, revealing that Joe Biden knew of and participated in his family’s business dealings,” Rep. Comer told CNN last month.
“The committee has uncovered evidence indicative of influence peddling and financial deception warranting further investigation and legislative solutions,” Comer’s panel wrote a report last May “Biden family members and business associates created a web of over 20 companies—most were limited liability companies formed during Joe Biden’s vice presidency.”
When the FD-1023 form surfaced last summer, the FBI did its best to block Republican-led committees from reviewing its contents.
“At each step in the investigation, the FBI represented to the Committees that the CHS was highly credible and that disclosure of information about the CHS could jeopardize national security,” Comer and Jordan wrote in their letter to the FBI director.
“At no time did the FBI correct its representations to the Committees about the credibility of the CHS or the apparently baseless assertions that release of his information would endanger Americans,” they wrote. “The FBI’s noncooperation prevented the Committees from ever knowing Mr. Smirnov’s identity, speaking with him directly or indirectly, or independently assessing the credibility of the information he provided.”
Wray was given a deadline of March 15 to respond.