(NewsReady.com) – One of the issues at the center of President Joe Biden’s impeachment inquiry was the allegation that he and his son, Hunter Biden, were paid bribes. A former FBI informant made the accusations in 2020. Republicans made the information public without verifying it, and it turned out to be a lie. The man at the center of the controversy received a trial date.
On February 14, the FBI arrested 43-year-old Alexander Smirnov as he got off a plane in Las Vegas. The Department of Justice charged him with creating a false and fictitious record and making a false statement. District Court Judge Otis D. Wright II ordered the defendant back to jail, ruling he could be held indefinitely because he posed a flight risk. The federal judge also set a trial date of April 23 in Los Angeles.
According to an indictment against Smirnov, he has been a confidential human source (CHS) for the FBI since 2010. He was allegedly admonished multiple times for providing false information to the agency. He ignored those warnings and “provided false derogatory” information about Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and the Ukrainian energy company’s executives.
In 2020, Smirnov spoke with the FBI and said the head of Burisma paid Joe and Hunter Biden each $5 million. Federal agents said he falsely claimed the executive said the company hired Hunter to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems.” He also claimed the executive paid the men the money so that Hunter Biden would “take care of all [the] issues through his dad,” allegedly referencing a probe by a former Ukrainian prosecutor into Burisma. The prosecutor was later fired for not investigating corruption.
Prosecutors who work for David C. Weiss, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, reportedly grew concerned about Smirnov after a search of his condo revealed he had nine handguns there. The authorities decided to arrest him at the airport because it was safer.
Smirnov has pleaded not guilty.
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