A former FBI informant enters a guilty plea to Bidens' fictitious bribery scheme. The Republican impeachment investigation focused on the fictitious bribery plan involving US President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Former FBI informant pleads guilty to lying about alleged bribery scheme involving Biden
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The bogus bribery scheme involving US President Joe Biden and his son Hunter was at the center of the Republican impeachment inquiry.
biden
Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, speaks to reporters on December 13, 2003 at the US Capitol in Washington, Dc US.
A former FBI informant has pleaded guilty to lying about an alleged bribery scheme involving US President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, which was later used by Republicans in Congress as part of an impeachment inquiry.
Alexander Smirnov pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Los Angeles to a felony related to the false story, as well as a tax evasion count stemming from a separate indictment that accused him of concealing millions of dollars in income.
Prosecutors and the defense have agreed to recommend a sentence of four to six years in prison when he is sentenced next month.
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Smirnov, 44, was arrested in February, accused of making a "false statement" and "creating a false and fictitious dossier" on his FBI agent that executives of Ukrainian energy company Burisma had paid President Biden and Hunter Biden about $5 million each. . 2015. Smirnov made the politically motivated allegations in June 2020 after "expressing bias" against Joe Biden when he was running for president, prosecutors said.
In fact, Smirnov had only routine dealings with Burisma starting in 2017, according to court documents.
The FBI has found no evidence that Joe Biden acted corruptly or took bribes while president of the United States or in his previous role as vice president.
Although Smirnov's identity was not publicly known before the indictment, his allegations played a major role in Republican efforts in Congress to investigate the president and his family and helped spark a House impeachment inquiry into Biden.
Before Smirnov's arrest, Republicans had asked the FBI to release the unredacted form documenting the unverified allegations, though they acknowledged they could not confirm they were true. In a conversation with investigators in September 2023, Smirnov also said that the Russians likely had recordings of Hunter Biden because a hotel in the Ukrainian capital where he was "connected" and under their control — the reports were passed to him by four senior Russian officials.
But Hunter Biden had never traveled to Ukraine, according to Smirnov's indictment.
Smirnov claimed to have had contact with officials linked to Russian intelligence and told authorities after his arrest this year that "officials linked to Russian intelligence were involved in spreading a story" about Hunter Biden.
"Despite repeated warnings that he must provide truthful information to the FBI and that he should not testify, the defendant provided false and disparaging information" about the Bidens, prosecutors said in federal court.
Hunter Biden was scheduled to be sentenced this month after he was convicted in a gun case and pleaded guilty to federal charges in another tax case. But he was pardoned this month by his father, who said he believes "brutal politics have infected this process and led to a miscarriage of justice."
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