Witness Accusing Biden of Corruption in Ukraine Charged with Perjury | International

Accused, Accused. David Weiss, the special prosecutor in charge of investigating President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, has charged a witness who served as a confidential source for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with perjury and obstruction of justice. The Bidens. Alexander Smirnov, 43, falsely told FBI agents in June 2020 that executives associated with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma had paid Hunter and Joe Biden $5 million in 2015 or 2016.

The perjury, which prosecutors attribute to political motivations, is what has led Republicans for years to accuse Joe Biden of corruption without evidence and led them to launch an investigation against the president for a possible impeachment trial. (impeachment). Last summer, Republicans called the now-accused acts of heroism and demanded that the FBI release his full statement. The chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Republican James Comer, last year sent a request to the FBI to obtain the so-called FD-1023 document, along with the declaration. Even then there were many doubts whether his allegations were true.

Weiss is the prosecutor who has charged Hunter Biden with alleged illegal purchases and possession of firearms and alleged tax crimes. Now, however, he indicts Smirnov in connection with statements he made to the FBI about Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine, trying to link them to his father, the president.

There is no evidence to support the claims of that confidential source. Despite this, Republicans have called Hunter Biden to the House of Representatives and voted to open an investigation for a possible political process. (impeachment) against the president.

The Bidens are not named in the statement of charges presented by the special prosecutor, but there is no doubt. Notably, the accused is a former confidential source who in 2020 gave false information to the FBI “about a prominent political figure and his son”. With that and other more specific mentions in the 37-page statement of objections, it’s clear who he’s referring to.

“Despite repeated instructions to the FBI to provide truthful information and not to falsify evidence, Defendant provided the FBI with false and derogatory information about Public Official 1, an elected Obama-Biden Administration official and businessman who left office in January 2017. 1, son of Public Official 1, in 2020, after Public Official 1 became a candidate for President of the United States of America,” the document says.

The allegation undermines key testimony against Joe Biden. Prosecutors say Smirnov had contact with Myanmar officials, but it was routine and actually took place in 2017, after President Barack Obama and his vice president, Biden, left office, when Biden would no longer have the ability to influence American politics.

Prosecutors say the defendant turned his routine and non-extraordinary business contacts with the Ukrainian company Burisma into baseless bribery allegations against Joe Biden. Now the accused was changing his version of events, entering into contradictions and lying to artificially create a scandal against Biden. According to the chargesheet, he also fabricated evidence.

This person accused of perjury is someone Republicans have been grasping at straws for years to try to accuse Biden of corruption. They’ve issued summonses and subpoenas, they’ve taken witness statements and despite their insistence, they still haven’t found the evidence they’re looking for. His case against Biden has now suffered a serious blow.

Smirnov appeared briefly in court in Las Vegas on Thursday after being charged with making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record, the Associated Press reports. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. A judge ordered the courtroom cleared after federal public defender Margaret Wittman Lambros requested a closed-door hearing to present her arguments about sealing court documents. He declined to comment on the case. A judge has scheduled a Feb. 20 arrest hearing for Smirnov, who was arrested at the Las Vegas airport after arriving in the United States from abroad.

Follow all international information on Facebook And xor in Our weekly newsletter.