According to court documents filed on Tuesday, the FBI confidential source charged with providing false information about President Biden and his son Hunter Biden had connections to Russian agents.
The news of 43-year-old Alexander Smirnov being charged was shared last week by the Justice Department after a grand jury moved to indict the informant.
The DOJ shared that “despite repeated admonishments that [Smirnov] must provide truthful information to the FBI and that he must not fabricate evidence, Smirnov provided false derogatory information to the FBI” about the Bidens.
The documents filed Tuesday allege Smirnov admitted that “officials associated with Russian intelligence” were involved in him sharing the story about the Bidens.
But the alleged interference from Russia doesn’t stop there.
Prosecutors also alleged that Smirnov told an FBI handler that the Russian Intelligence Service intercepted several phone calls made at a hotel “by prominent U.S. persons the Russian government may use as ‘kompromat’ in the 2024 election.”
The filing also claimed that Smirnov was “actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials in November.”
During a hearing, Smirnov’s lawyers argued that he should be released and monitored electronically until his trial “so he can effectively fight the power of the government.”
Eventually, the judge ruled after a detention hearing that Smirnov should be released on a personal recognizance bond.