FBI informant on Biden had ‘high-level’ contacts with Russian intelligence, says DOJ

An FBI informant who accused President Joe Biden of illegal involvement in his son’s business dealings claims to have had “high-level contacts” with intelligence operatives from the Russian Federation, according to a filing by the United States government in federal court on Tuesday.

Alexander Smirnov, a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, was arrested and charged on Feb. 14 with making false statements to the FBI about Biden’s connections to the Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings Limited, which employed his son Hunter Biden as a member of the board with a monthly salary of $50,000 during his term as vice president. On Tuesday, in a memorandum filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada to support Smirnov’s continued pre-trial detention, the Department of Justice(DOJ) wrote that he claimed to have had “contacts with multiple foreign intelligence agencies…[who] could resettle Smirnov outside the United States if he were released.”

“During his custodial interview on February 14, Smirnov admitted that officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story about [Hunter Biden],” wrote special counsel David Weiss in the filing. “Smirnov apparently attended a separate meeting with Russian Official 1, [an] individual who controls groups that are engaged in overseas assassination efforts.”

Government’s Memorandum in Support of Detention, United States v. Smirnov (D. Nv., Feb. 20, 2024), ECF No…. by Daily Caller News Foundation on Scribd

The memorandum indicates that Smirnov reported dozens of meetings with Russian officials toward the end of 2023, who are unnamed but are described as high-ranking officials, such as a senior individual in a Russian state-owned defense conglomerate and another senior individual part of a Russian foreign intelligence service.

Smirnov was a confidential human source who provided information that was used to prepare a report, known as an FD-1023, about Joe Biden’s alleged connections to the Burisma business partners of Hunter Biden. That report has previously served as evidence contradicting Joe Biden’s claim that he knew nothing of his son’s business dealings.

Smirnov was arrested at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada, after returning to the United States from a trip made “for the purpose of meeting with Russian intelligence officials,” according to the memorandum. “Smirnov’s contacts with Russian officials who are affiliated with Russian intelligence services are not benign,” the government claimed.

The memorandum, however, notes that “law enforcement knows about Smirnov’s contact with officials affiliated with Russian intelligence because Smirnov himself reported on a number of those contacts to his FBI Handler.” It specified that the contacts described were novel.

Joe Biden is currently the subject of an impeachment inquiry by the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee regarding his involvement in his son’s business dealings.

The FD-1023 detailing Smirnov’s claims was released by Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa on July 20, 2023, after it was provided to him by government whistleblowers. “[The] indictment confirms several points Senator Grassley has made repeatedly. The informant behind the FD-1023 was, indeed, a long-serving, trusted FBI source used by the agency for criminal investigations since the Obama administration. In fact, he was so trusted that the FBI provided him authorization ‘to engage in illegal activity for investigative purposes’,” a spokesperson for Grassley told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The White House and Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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