Politics

Here’s How Many Times The FBI Got Info From Burisma Source Allegedly Linked To Russian Intel

Hunter and Ashley Biden, children of President Joe Biden, attend the 59th Presidential Inauguration ceremony in Washington, Jan. 20, 2021. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. (DOD Photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Carlos M. Vazquez II)

For more than a decade, the FBI was in consistent contact with the paid source behind explosive claims that a Ukrainian energy firm bribed Hunter and Joe Biden before he was arrested on Feb. 14 for allegedly lying to federal agents.

Alexander Smirnov — the FBI source who told agents that Burisma executives had discussed paying Hunter Biden and Joe Biden $5 million each to leverage U.S. policy in Ukraine to the company’s advantage — provided the FBI information as far back as 2010, and he maintained consistent communications with his FBI handler over the years, according to the Feb. 14 indictment against him. While the FBI long considered him to be a credible source, the DOJ alleged that Smirnov both lied to agents about the Biden bribery claims and was in contact with individuals linked to Russian intelligence, according to a Feb. 20 legal filing related to the indictment.

Special counsel David Weiss alleges in the Feb. 20 filing that Smirnov “is actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials in November,” suggesting that Smirnov had worked in tandem with Russian intelligence officials to influence the 2024 election. Weiss’ description of Smirnov as a potential foreign operative seeking to sway public opinion ahead of an election stands in sharp contrast to the FBI’s long-held belief that he was a credible informant.

The FBI paid Smirnov and allowed him to continue to engage in illegal activity for investigative purposes, according to House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer and the Feb. 14 indictment. Smirnov’s FBI handler told him that he would potentially have to testify in court regarding information that he provided to the bureau on at least seven occasions dating back to 2010, according to the Feb. 14 indictment.

Smirnov Indictment by Nick Pope

Those dates include, but are not limited to, October 1, 2010; May 17, 2011; November 28, 2012; April 12, 2013; August 29, 2013; July 10, 2015, and March 11, 2020, according to the indictment.

That his handler intimated to Smirnov that he may have to testify about the information he provided on those dates strongly suggests that he was making allegations to the FBI regarding criminal conduct by other people.

Between 2014 and 2020, Smirnov also signed five agreements with the FBI that codified his ability to continue engaging in illegal activities for investigative purposes provided he did not obstruct justice by engaging in witness tampering, intimidation or lying, according to the indictment.

The indictment alleges that Smirnov lied to the FBI agents about discussions that he had with Burisma executives about Joe and Hunter Biden, which Smirnov told agents for the first time in 2020 occurred when Joe Biden was vice president in 2015 or 2016. Those claims became the basis for a FD-1023 form — used by agents to summarize raw intelligence without making a determination about the information’s veracity — that was not formally discredited until special counsel David Weiss unsealed the Feb. 14 indictment.

Weiss’ Delaware office was aware of the nature of the allegations outlined in the FD-1023 as early as October 2020, according to the October 2023 testimony of former U.S. Attorney for the District of Western Pennsylvania Scott Brady. While Weiss was the U.S. attorney for the District of Delaware prior to his appointment as special counsel, Brady’s office had notified Weiss and his team about the FD-1023 and its contents, according to Brady’s testimony. Another 40 months would pass until Weiss made an official determination as to whether Smirnov was the credible informant that the FBI apparently believed him to be.

Government’s Memorandum in … by Daily Caller News Foundation

Federal investigators did not interview Smirnov about the FD-1023’s contents until September 27, 2023, according to the Feb. 14 indictment, about two months after Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley obtained the form from DOJ whistleblowers and released it to the public in July 2023. Prior to the FD-1023’s release, Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz accused federal investigators of stonewalling efforts to obtain the document.

“There is a long history of the FBI mismanaging human sources, dating back to the Boston FBI scandal where handlers even turned a blind-eye to sources committing murder. The FBI secretly pays far too much taxpayer money to human sources with far too little oversight,” Jason Foster, the founder of Empower Oversight and former chief investigative counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, previously told the DCNF. “Every time it goes wrong, the FBI writes some new rules and assures the public that it’s been fixed, but no one ever actually requires real independent scrutiny and accountability … If the FBI and the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s had been doing their jobs, Smirnov would have been re-interviewed and his claims scrutinized much earlier.”

Foster also represents Internal Revenue Service whistleblower Gary Shapley.

Several prominent Democrats have suggested that the indictment against Smirnov and his alleged ties to Russian intelligence ought to disqualify the overarching impeachment probe into Joe Biden altogether. However, regardless of whether or not the allegations made against him are accurate, Smirnov’s claims against the Biden’s are independent of the facts established by the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop, the testimonies of several former Hunter Biden businesspartners, the network of shell companies and bank records that congressional investigators have uncovered or the extent of Joe Biden’s possible involvement in his son’s business dealings with interests from nations including China, Romania and Kazakhstan.

Neither the DOJ nor the FBI responded immediately to requests for comment.