Updated 02.27 | Published 01.43
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full screenHunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden. Archive image. Photo: Jose Luis Magana/AP/TT
An FBI source has been arrested and charged with lying about connections between US President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and a Ukrainian energy company.
The source’s information has been at the center of Republican corruption allegations.
Alexander Smirnov, 43, was arrested in Las Vegas on Wednesday. According to prosecutors, he has provided false information to FBI agents that executives of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma claimed to have hired Hunter Biden to “protect us, through his father, from all kinds of problems” and paid Hunter and Joe Biden five million dollars each.
Smirnov is now charged with making a false statement and creating false and fictitious documents.
He initially provided the information in 2020. When Smirnov was questioned again by FBI agents in September 2023, he allegedly repeated some false statements and changed his story in other parts. In addition, he is said to have presented “a new false narrative after he said he met Russian officials”, according to prosecutors.
Smirnov’s records have been central to corruption charges leveled by Republican congressmen against the president and his son, and have formed the basis of an impeachment inquiry launched by Republicans against the president.
So far, the Republicans have failed to present any evidence that could actually lead to Joe Biden being impeached.
Behind the indictment against Smirnov is special investigator David Weiss, who indicted Hunter Biden for tax crimes and weapons crimes.
If convicted, Smirnov faces up to 25 years in prison.