It has been noted that a former FBI informant who claimed President Joe Biden received a $5 million bribe stated that “officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved” in proliferating that claim, according to a Department of Justice filing on Tuesday.
Last week, Alexander Smirnov was taken into custody and accused of lying to the FBI. He asserted that during the elder Biden’s vice presidential term, he and his son Hunter each received $5 million. According to the former informant, Hunter Biden was a board member of the Ukrainian energy business Burisma, which disbursed the funds.
According to Smirnov, Biden received the payoff after he persuaded the Ukrainian government to dismiss Viktor Shokin, a prosecutor who was looking into the company’s possible criminality. But as has been widely documented, Shokin was sacked at the time of his dismissal for failing to look into corruption and for not having an ongoing inquiry into Burisma.
CNN covered the filing on Tuesday’s edition of The Situation Room.
Reporter Evan Perez said that after Smirnoff was arrested by the FBI, he “admitted that officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story about Hunter Biden.”
House Republicans are investigating the Bidens and have claimed that the president engaged in corruption as vice president. They have relied extensively on Smirnov’s claims to undergird their case.
Smirnov is being prosecuted by Special Counsel David Weiss, who is also prosecuting Hunter Biden on nine felony tax counts. The president’s son pleaded not guilty to all charges.
