What happened?
Longtime FBI informant Alexander Smirnov "admitted that officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved" in passing a false story about Hunter Biden to the FBI, prosecutors said Tuesday night. Smirnov was indicted last week for fabricating a story at the heart of the House impeachment effort, that President Joe Biden and Hunter Biden demanded $5 million bribes from Ukrainian energy company Burisma. James Biden told House investigators Wednesday that his brother "Joe Biden has never had any involvement or any direct or indirect financial interest" in family members' business dealings.
Who said what?
"The impeachment investigation essentially ended yesterday" with the "explosive revelation" that Smirnov's tales of bribes "were concocted along with Russian intelligence agents," said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. Smirnov "wasn't an important part of this investigation," Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said on Newsmax. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), reminded he called Smirnov's allegation the "most corroborating evidence we have," said its debunking doesn't "change the underlying facts" of the Biden inquiry.
The commentary
Smirnov's story being revealed as the tip of a successful high-level "Russian disinformation campaign" really undermines "a fundamental building block of the impeachment," Ryan Goodman said on PBS. Surely Republicans know they "have to go back to the drawing board." One "lying witness does not exonerate the Bidens" in the "influence-peddling" investigation, Jonathan Turley said at the New York Post.
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What next?
Hunter Biden is scheduled for a closed-door House deposition next week.
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