Special counsel David Weiss has charged Alexander Smirnov, a former FBI informant, with lying about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden’s involvement in business dealings with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings.
Smirnov, 43, faces charges related to lying to the FBI and creating false records. He was arrested at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas upon his arrival in the US from overseas and is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court Thursday afternoon.
The charges against Smirnov challenge a significant aspect of Republicans’ claims that Joe Biden financially benefited from his son’s business dealings in Ukraine.
According to court records, Smirnov informed an FBI agent that he had spoken with the owner of Burisma about the company’s efforts to acquire a US-based company. In his report to the FBI, Smirnov allegedly noted that an individual referred to as “Businessperson 1” was on Burisma’s board and was the son of “Public Official 1.” While the indictment doesn’t identify these individuals, sources identify “Public Official 1” as Joe Biden and “Businessperson 1” as Hunter Biden.
During Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, Smirnov allegedly submitted reports to the FBI detailing meetings with Burisma executives in 2015 and 2016. In these meetings, executives reportedly admitted hiring Hunter Biden to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems.” Smirnov claimed that executives paid $5 million each to Joe and Hunter Biden while Joe Biden was vice president, intending for Hunter to “take care of all those issues through his dad,” referring to a criminal investigation by the then-Ukrainian prosecutor general into Burisma.
The indictment contends that Smirnov had contacts with Burisma executives in 2017, after the end of the Obama-Biden administration and after the Ukrainian prosecutor general had been fired in February 2016. This period was when Joe Biden had no ability to influence US policy, and the prosecutor general was no longer in office. The indictment accuses Smirnov of transforming routine business contacts into bribery allegations against Joe Biden, expressing bias against Biden and his candidacy.
