Informant Against Bidens Charged With Lying

 

In a development that should upend MAGA Republican efforts to smear President Biden and his son Hunter's alleged business dealings with a Ukrainian power company, David Weiss, the Special Counsel who previously charged Hunter Biden with other offenses, has charged an FBI informant with lying about the Bidens' business dealings. From the Washington Post:

"The indictment returned by a grand jury in Los Angeles accuses Alexander Smirnov of making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record. The charges amount to a stark rebuke of conservatives, particularly Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, who touted Smirnov’s claims as he and other Republican lawmakers tried to build a corruption case against the president and his family.

Smirnov, 43, is described in charging documents as a former confidential human source for the FBI who gave agents false information in 2020 about a prominent political figure and his son. The description of the two individuals matches that of Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and a person familiar with the matter said those are the individuals about whom Smirnov lied." (our emphasis)

In summary, the charges against Smirnov state that he lied when he said there were phone calls with the energy company Burisma that claim that they hired Hunter Biden as a board member to gain influence over his then-Vice President father. More from the report:

"Thursday’s indictment implicitly argues that some of the most sensational charges Republicans have sought to level against the president and his son were based on lies.

Smirnov, according to the indictment, 'transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against Public Official 1, the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties for President, after expressing bias against Public Official 1 and his candidacy.'

Authorities allege that Smirnov, in talking to his FBI handler, repeatedly expressed dislike for Joe Biden, and at one point texted the agent that Biden was 'going to jail.' [snip]

U.S. authorities said that when agents questioned Smirnov again in 2023, he repeated some past false claims, changed other parts of his story and suggested new falsehoods after claiming to have met with Russian officials." (our emphasis)

This has all the earmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign to bring the Bidens down and to support the Malignant Loser, with the eager cooperation and probable collusion of MAGA cult members on Capitol Hill and elsewhere (disgraced Rudy "Toot Toot" Giuliani perhaps?). Hopefully as Smirnov's case progresses, we'll hear more about the circumstances.

 

Hunter Hunter Comer's Shell Shock

 

It seems the bumbling Inspector Clouseau of the Biden impeachment inquiry, Kentucky MAGAt Republican Rep. James "The Bumbler" Comer has been caught in a little (shocking!) hypocrisy.  From the Associated Press:

Rep. James Comer, a multimillionaire farmer, boasts of being one of the largest landholders near his rural Kentucky hometown, and he has meticulously documented nearly all of his landholdings on congressional financial disclosure documents – roughly 1,600 acres (645 hectares) in all.

But there are 6 acres (2.4 hectares) that he bought in 2015 and co-owns with a longtime campaign contributor that he has treated differently, transferring his ownership to Farm Team Properties, a shell company he co-owns with his wife.

Interviews and records reviewed by The Associated Press provide new insights into the financial deal, which risks undercutting the force of some of Comer’s central arguments in his impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden. For months, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee and his Republican colleagues have been pounding Biden, a Democrat, for how his relatives traded on their famous name to secure business deals.

In particular, Comer has attacked some Biden family members, including the president’s son Hunter, over their use of shell companies that appear designed to obscure millions of dollars in earnings they received from shadowy middlemen and foreign interests.

Such companies typically exist only on paper and are formed to hold an asset, like real estate. Their opaque structures are often designed to help hide ownership of property and other assets.

The companies used by the Bidens are already playing a central role in the impeachment investigation, which is expected to gain velocity after House Republicans voted Wednesday to formally authorize the probe. The vote follows the federal indictment last week of Biden’s son Hunter on charges he engaged in a scheme to avoid paying taxes on his earnings through the companies.

But as Comer works to “deliver the transparency and accountability that the American people demand” through the GOP’s investigation, his own finances and relationships have begun to draw notice, too, including his ties to prominent local figures who have complicated pasts not all that dissimilar to some of those caught up in his Biden probe... (our emphasis)

There's more at the link.  If only this shitgibbon were capable of shame.

(Photo:  The Bumbler / via Rolling Stone)