FBI arrests anti-Biden informant for lying about Burisma

The FBI informant falsely claimed that Hunter Biden and his father, President Joe Biden, were paid $5 million protection bribes by Ukrainian energy company Burisma

(Image credit: Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images)

By Peter Weber, The Week US

published 16 February 2024

What happened?

Special counsel David Weiss late Thursday unsealed charges accusing FBI informant Alexander Smirnov of falsely claiming Hunter Biden and his father, President Joe Biden, were each paid $5 million protection bribes by Ukrainian energy company Burisma in 2015 or 2016. Smirnov, 43, was arrested Wednesday at the Las Vegas airport. Weiss is prosecuting Hunter Biden on gun and tax charges.

The commentary

The indictment is a "stinging setback" for House Republicans who featured Smirnov's "explosive story" in their push to impeach Joe Biden, The New York Times said. It is "rare for the FBI to charge one of its informants with lying," The Washington Post said, but Republicans forced the issue by making Smirnov's claims a "kind of cause célèbre."

Who said what?

Smirnov "transformed his routine and unextraordinary" 2017 Burisma business contacts "into bribery allegations" against Biden after "expressing bias" against him during the 2020 campaign, the indictment said. "Republicans have built their conspiracies about Hunter and his family on lies told by people with political agendas, not facts," Hunter Biden's lawyer Abbe Lowell said. Now "the air is out of their balloon."

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What next?

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said his committee will "continue to follow the facts" to "determine whether articles of impeachment are warranted." Smirnov faces up to 25 years in jail if convicted.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.