(RepublicanNews.org) – A special counsel for the Justice Department has charged Alexander Smirnov with lying about communications between President Joe Biden, his son Hunter, and the Ukrainian-based energy company Burisma. Special counsel David Weiss, who previously filed charges against Hunter Biden for tax and firearm offenses, has accused 43-year-old Smirnov of providing a false statement and fabricating records when reporting the Bidens’ alleged wrongdoings to the FBI. Smirnov was arrested in Las Vegas after flying into the country on Thursday, February 15th, and faces 25 years in prison if convicted.
Smirnov’s testimony has formed a key part of the Republican impeachment inquiry against Pres. Biden, as he claimed to have knowledge of bribery and corruption on the part of the president and his son, who acted as a non-executive director for Burisma while his father was the U.S. Vice President. In June 2020, Smirnov told FBI agents that both Joe and Hunter Biden had been paid $5 million each by the energy company, either in 2015 or 2016. He claimed that one of the company’s executives had told him that Hunter’s role included using his father’s political power to protect Burisma from “all sorts of problems,” including a criminal investigation carried out by the then-Prosecutor general of Ukraine. Prosecutors allege that this accusation of bribery was false and that Smirnov’s contact with Burisma was “routine” and “unextraordinary,” and took place when Joe Biden was no longer Vice President.
Smirnov, who prosecutors claim changed aspects of his stories when speaking to FBI officials in 2023, is reported to have expressed his dislike for Joe Biden as a presidential candidate before he spoke to the FBI about the alleged corruption. Jamie Raskin (D – MD), a member of the House Oversight Committee, has called for Republicans to close their impeachment inquiry into Pres. Biden said that the prosecution of Smirnov shows “key evidence” to be fictitious. His call has been rejected by House Oversight Republicans, however, who stated that they have more evidence beyond Smirnov’s testimony, and took the opportunity to call the FBI, “corrupt.”
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