Special counsel charges ex-FBI informant with lying about Hunter Biden's dealings with Burisma

Special counsel David Weiss on Thursday charged ex-FBI informant Alexander Smirnov over allegedly lying about the Biden family's involvement with Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy firm at the center of an alleged bribery scheme.

Authorities detained Smirnov at Harry Reid International Airport on Thursday, CNN reported. He is expected in court later the same day.

"In short, the Defendant transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against [Joe Biden], the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties for President, after expressing bias against [Joe Biden] and his candidacy," Weiss alleged.

In the indictment, filed Thursday in the Central District of California, Weiss alleges that Smirnov gave false information about the Bidens to the FBI which were recorded in the 2020 FD-1023. Smirnov was approached by his handler after a request from the Pittsburg FBI office, which was seeking to gather more information on the allegations against Biden. The indictment also alleges that Smirnov expressed bias towards Joe Biden to his handler.

You can read the indictment below:

Burisma has been under scrutiny for corruption for many years and last year was at the center of an alleged bribery scheme detailed in an FBI memo, known as an FD-1023, in which a confidential human information, now revealed to be Smirnov, claimed a Burisma executive allegedly hired Hunter Biden to secure access to his then-vice president father, and paid $5 million to two members of the Biden family to stifle a probe from then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who was investigating the company.

The unclassified FD-1023 containing confidential human source information became public in July of last year detailing the alleged effort. The Bidens have denied wrongdoing.

Weiss has brought tax charges against the first son following a yearslong investigation that nearly culminated in a plea agreement that the judge rejected. IRS whistleblowers who worked on the case have also come forward with allegations that Biden-appointed officials blocked the bringing of the most severe charges against him. Weiss was named special counsel after the initial plea agreement collapsed and has since brought tax and gun charges against him.

When asked on the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., urged caution in drawing conclusions.

"We don't even know what Weiss may or may not have," Biggs said. "I will just tell you this. An indictment means very little. It is the conviction that means the most."

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.