Alexander Smirnov, 43, arrived at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Nev., from overseas Wednesday. There, he was arrested for allegedly providing false information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“Smirnov was a confidential human source (CHS) with the FBI,” said a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice citing a two-count indictment against Smirnov. “As alleged in the indictment, despite repeated admonishments that he must provide truthful information to the FBI and that he must not fabricate evidence, Smirnov provided false derogatory information to the FBI about Public Official 1, and Businessperson 1, the son of Public Official 1, in 2020, after Public Official 1 became a presidential candidate.”
Per the indictment, Public Official 1 and Businessperson 1 have been identified as President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.
CNN reported that Smirnov’s claims have been “front-and-center” in congressional Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into the president. According to the outlet, members of the GOP “have championed Smirnov’s now-discredited allegations for roughly a year, though not by name.”
Here are some revelations from the unsealed indictment:
In March 2017, Smirnov reported to his FBI handler that he had a phone call with the owner of Ukrainian industrial conglomerate Burisma Holding concerning its interest in acquiring a U.S. company and making an initial public offering (“IPO”) on a U.S.-based stock exchange. Hunter Biden was a member of Burisma’s board.
Then, in June 2020, Smirnov made claims for the first time that he had two meetings in 2015 or 2016 with Burisma officials where they told him that they hired Hunter to “protect” them through his father, who would have been serving as vice president under President Barack Obama at the time. He also said they had paid Hunter and Joe Biden $5 million each to “take care of” issues related to a criminal investigation into Burisma.
“As alleged herein, the events the Defendant first reported to the Handler in June 2020 were fabrications,” said the indictment, announced by Special Counsel David Weiss. “In truth and fact, the Defendant had contact with executives from Burisma in 2017, after the end of the Obama-Biden Administration and after the then Ukrainian Prosecutor General had been fired in February 2016, in other words, when Public Official 1 had no ability to influence U.S. policy and when the Prosecutor General was no longer in office.”
Smirnov messaged his handler in May 2020 that he believed Biden would go to jail and said that “Dems tried to impeach” former President Donald Trump “for same.”
“All those polititions [sic] same s***,” he added. “Jail for all of them.”
Other communications between Smirnov and the handler included a photograph he claimed depicted Biden with the CEO of Burisma. It did not, said the indictment.
Smirnov, who was a California resident as of 2020, has been charged with making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record.
“As further alleged in the indictment, when he was interviewed by FBI agents in September 2023, Smirnov repeated some of his false claims, changed his story as to other of his claims, and promoted a new false narrative after he said he met with Russian officials,” said the Justice Department.
According to the department, Smirnov was scheduled to have an initial appearance at the federal courthouse in the District of Nevada at 2:30 p.m. PT Thursday. It stressed that defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
If Smirnov is ultimately convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison. CNN said Thursday that it was working to determine whether Smirnov has an attorney.
In a statement provided to the outlet, Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, said: “For months we have warned that Republicans have built their conspiracies about Hunter and his family on lies told by people with political agendas, not facts.”
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House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) told CNN in a Thursday statement that his investigation into the president does not revolve around Smirnov or his claims, though they have been cited by Republican lawmakers.
“To be clear, the impeachment inquiry is not reliant on the FBI’s FD-1023. It 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,” he said.
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