Did the Biden impeachment inquiry just collapse?
Key GOP impeachment inquiry witness Alexander Smirnov says Russian intelligence fed him lies
Special counsel David Weiss revealed in a court filing last week that former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, who is accused of falsely telling the FBI that President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden took $5 million bribes from Ukrainian energy company Burisma when the elder Biden was vice president, met with Russian intelligence operatives who fed him lies about the Bidens, CNN said. Smirnov was released with GPS monitoring after he was charged earlier this month with telling agents the bribery tale, but prosecutors got a court to order Smirnov rearrested last week by arguing that he had ties to Russian intelligence and financial resources that made him a flight risk.
House Republicans had made Smirnov's bribery story a pillar of their efforts to impeach Biden. Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the Republican-led House Oversight Committee, said to ABC News that "the Smirnov revelations destroy the entire case." Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) said Smirnov's alleged ties to Kremlin spies indicated that, "wittingly or unwittingly, House Republicans have been acting as an agent or an asset of Russian intelligence for Vladimir Putin."
Republicans scrubbed mention of Smirnov from impeachment literature, but Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said the news about Smirnov didn't "change the fundamental facts," The Hill said. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said Smirnov, a 43-year-old U.S.-Israeli citizen, was just one witness, but the case is based on "a large record of evidence, including bank records and witness testimony, revealing that Joe Biden knew of and participated in his family's business dealings." How much will the news about Smirnov impact the GOP push to impeach Biden?
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The impeachment inquiry is toast
With the shameful implosion of the GOP's "star witness," the campaign to impeach Biden "has crashed and burned," said Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling in The New Republic. Insisting the facts haven't changed only gets you so far when it becomes clear "those 'facts' were lies fed by the Russian government." Diehards in the party "are still scrambling to revive the probe." But even Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), no bipartisan peacemaker, "seems to be growing tired of the impeachment probe," telling CNN some of the GOP's allegations against Biden "might have been a little oversauced."
"This turn of events is devastating for the Republican effort to oust the president" because they relied so heavily on Smirnov's outrageous claims, said The Washington Post editorial board. Now their only hope is that Smirnov, a serial liar, is also "lying about Russian officials providing him with dirt on the president." Smirnov is either "an asset in a current Kremlin plot to spread disinformation about the president, an eerie echo of 2016's election interference," or he's making that up, too. "Either way, congressional Republicans have staked their impeachment inquiry on the words of a fabulist."
Smirnov's arrest doesn't absolve Biden
"The Smirnov indictment doesn't mean Joe and Hunter are in the clear," said Miranda Devine in the New York Post. "Far from it." Comer has gathered "overwhelming" evidence from bank records showing "millions of dollars from China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Kazakhstan being laundered through multiple shell companies for the Biden family, and jaw-dropping testimony from Hunter's former business partners of Joe's meetings with Hunter's foreign benefactors right before big payments dropped." This isn't the Russian-influence "bombshell" Democrats claim, either, said Jonathan Turley, also in the New York Post. Smirnov's contacts with Russians appear to have taken place before 2020, and have "nothing to do" with "the evidence of influence-peddling found in emails" on Hunter Biden's laptop.
The "hardcore impeachment heads" are certainly right about one thing, said Jim Newell at Slate. Republicans won't be dropping their inquiry any time soon. "Even before Smirnov's tales blew up, this impeachment investigation was already heading toward a bust." Comer has admitted Republicans might not hold a vote on impeaching Biden. "The case is too — what's the word? — uncaselike, and the House GOP margins are just too thin." So Republicans will "just keep their Biden investigations running through the election, because the last thing they'll ever do is exonerate the president."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
-
What is cloud seeding and did it cause Dubai's severe rainfall?
The Explainer The future is flooded
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
American Airlines pilots are warning of a 'significant spike' in safety issues
In the Spotlight The pilot's union listed 'problematic trends' they say are affecting the airline's fleet
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
6 star-spangled presidential libraries to visit
The Week Recommends These institutions provide insight into American leaders
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
Can Trump get a fair trial?
Talking Points Donald Trump says he can't get a fair trial in heavily Democratic Manhattan as his hush money case starts
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Controversy is brewing over a lawsuit involving Hermès' luxury bags
Talking Point The lawsuit alleges the company only sells bags to people with a 'sufficient purchase history'
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
What RFK Jr.'s running mate pick says about his candidacy
Talking Points Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s' running mate brings money and pro-abortion-rights cred to his longshot presidential bid
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Securonomics: what is Rachel Reeves' economic plan and will it work?
The Explainer Focus on economic security and the resilience of industry in an uncertain world is 'key to growth', say Labour
By The Week UK Published
-
Housing costs: the root of US economic malaise?
speed read Many voters are troubled by the housing affordability crisis
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Chinese electric cars may be coming to spy on you
Talking Points The Biden administration investigates Chinese electric cars as a potential economic and national security threat
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Is this the end of the big night out?
Talking Point Bar closures and Gen Z teetotallers threaten 'extinction' for 'messy nights on the town'
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
New austerity: can public services take any more cuts?
Today's Big Question Some government departments already 'in last chance saloon', say unions, as Conservative tax-cutting plans 'hang in the balance'
By The Week UK Published