Former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, whom special counsel David Weiss has charged for allegedly lying about a bribery scheme involving the Biden family, has reportedly been in frequent contact with Russian intelligence, the Department of Justice claimed Tuesday.
Smirnov was arrested Thursday in Las Vegas, Nevada. Weiss has claimed that Smirnov provided false information to the FBI, including claims that a Burisma executive paid $5 million to two members of the Biden family as part of a bid to shut down a probe into the firm. Those allegations were recorded in a 2020 FD-1023 form documenting confidential human source material.
While the allegations Smirnov made against the Bidens have featured prominently in congressional investigations, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has insisted that they do not form the crux of their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
“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,” he said last week.
