Republicans’ Star Hunter Biden Witness Charged for Lying to the FBI
The New RepublicNov 01, 2022
Hunter Biden: Whistleblower Charged With Lying to FBI
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The Facts
The Justice Department (DOJ) on Thursday arrested Alexander Smirnov, who as an FBI informant claimed Pres. Joe Biden and his son Hunter were involved in corrupt deals with Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, for lying to the bureau.
Smirnov was charged with two counts of allegedly lying to the FBI. The DOJ claims Smirnov falsely said Burisma said it hired Hunter to "protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems" and he also lied when he said Burisma paid the Bidens $5M.
The Spin
Democratic narrative
Unsurprisingly, House Republicans' star witness is a fraud. The FBI kept Smirnov's testimony under wraps because it knew it contained biased and unsubstantiated claims the GOP would've celebrated as true. Even Republicans knew Smirnov was shady, but they were willing to look the other way in order to advance their fraudulent impeachment inquiry.
Republican narrative
If Weiss really didn't investigate Smirnov's claims until recently, this is an impeachable dereliction of duty. Smirnov's claims were serious, and now it seems almost too convenient that his indictment might overshadow legitimate evidence against the Bidens. In addition, if the DOJ is in the mood for indicting informants it should go after those who fabricated evidence in the Trump-Russia collusion hoax.
Nerd narrative
There's a 24% chance that Pres. Biden will be impeached by the House of Representatives, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
