Alexander Smirnov, a former FBI confidential human source, has agreed to a plea deal in which he will plead guilty to fabricating allegations about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, court filings revealed on Thursday.
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Smirnov claimed in 2020 that Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, paid Joe and Hunter Biden $5 million each to halt criminal investigations into the organization.
“The events Defendant first reported to the Handler in June 2020 were fabrications,” the plea documents state.
“The events Defendant first reported to the Handler in June 2020 were fabrications. Defendant 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.”
The plea agreement says that Smirnov repeated his allegedly false accusations about the Bidens again in 2023, and was telling investigators by then a “new false narrative” about Hunter Biden. At that time, Weiss’ office was continuing to investigate Hunter Biden and brought charges against him on gun and tax crimes.
Special counsel David Weiss, who led the prosecution against Hunter on tax and firearms charges, also pursued the case against Smirnov. The former informant will plead guilty to one count of creating a false federal record and three counts of tax evasion. Smirnov is accused of failing to report more than $2 million in income over two decades.
In July, Smirnov’s legal team attempted to have the charges dismissed.
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Smirnov and his legal team are now using the ruling by Judge Aileen Cannon which dismissed the case against Trump on procedural grounds. Judge Cannon found that Special Counsel Jack Smith was improperly or unlawfully appointed and therefore all proceedings and indictments that followed were unconstitutional. Weiss is leading investigations into Hunter Biden and other related matters that include possible involvement with his Father, President Joe Biden.
“The bottom line is this,” she wrote. “The Appointments Clause is a critical constitutional restriction stemming from the separation of powers, and it gives to Congress a considered role in determining the propriety of vesting appointment power for inferior officers. The Special Counsel’s position effectively usurps that important legislative authority, transferring it to a Head of Department, in the process threatening the structural liberty inherent in the separation of powers. If the political branches wish to grant the Attorney General power to appoint Special Counsel Smith to investigate and prosecute this action with the full powers of a United States Attorney, there is a valid means by which to do so. He can be appointed and confirmed through the default method prescribed in the Appointments Clause, as Congress has directed for United States Attorneys throughout American history, see 28 U.S.C. § 541, or Congress can authorize his appointment through enactment of positive statutory law consistent with the Appointments Clause.”
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Smirnov’s allegations were central to an investigation carried out by Republican lawmakers into the Bidens. Weiss’ team alleged that the former informant turned his ordinary communications with business contacts at Burisma into allegations of bribery against the Bidens.
The former informant spent copious sums of money on luxury purchases. “Smirnov admits he spent from the money more than $1 million on a condo purchase in Las Vegas, a lease for a Bentley, and other luxury items for himself and his partner,” instead of paying his taxes, CNN reported.
When the DOJ first indicted Smirnov, it raised questions among Republican lawmakers, including Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI). They questioned “how the Justice Department and FBI could use this Confidential Human Source for approximately 14 years, pay him hundreds of thousands of dollars, use this information in investigations and prosecutions, and then ultimately determine he’s a liar.”
