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full screenHunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden. Archive image. Photo: Jose Luis Magana/AP/TT
An FBI source charged with lying about US President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and a Ukrainian energy company allegedly had contact with Russian intelligence operatives, US prosecutors allege.
The source in question, 43-year-old Alexander Smirnov, was arrested in Las Vegas on Wednesday last week. According to the indictment, he allegedly provided false information to FBI agents that executives at the Ukrainian energy company Burisma claimed to have hired Hunter Biden to “protect us, through his father, from all kinds of problems.” For that, the company would have paid Hunter and Joe Biden five million dollars each.
In a court hearing on Tuesday, the prosecution said that Smirnov stated in questioning that people connected to the Russian intelligence service were involved in passing on information about Hunter Biden.
Prosecutors also claimed that the contacts were extensive, took place in the near future and that Smirnov intended to meet one of these people during a trip abroad.
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 also indicted Hunter Biden for tax crimes and weapons crimes.
If convicted, Smirnov faces up to 25 years in prison.