The Russian comedian Yakov Smirnoff once joked that �in America,
you can always find a party. In Soviet Russia, the Party can
always find you.�

Alexander Smirnov is no comedian, but he is about to discover
the truth of that statement.

Alexander Smirnov is now a defendant in federal court after
being charged by special counsel David Weiss for spreading a
false story about Hunter Biden receiving $5 million from
Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company.

The allegation has produced a stampede of Democrats who view his
indictment as a much-needed talking point as the House continues
to build the case of influence-peddling by the Biden family.

Some are using the charges to revive a previously debunked story
that Hunter Biden�s laptop could be Russian disinformation. But
a closer reading of the filing dispels those claims and
contradicts a new effort by Hunter Biden to dismiss charges
against himself.

The filing itself is actually an argument to keep Smirnov in
federal detention.

The government points out Smirnov�s admitted contacts with
Russian intelligence officials and previously scheduled meetings
with such figures to argue he is a flight risk.

However, there are a couple of aspects to the filing that
undermine the claims of a �bombshell� revelation of a Russian
disinformation campaign. First, these disclosures were not the
result of surveillance or interceptions by American
intelligence. Smirnov appears to have been cooperating with the
United States and told his US �handler� about all of these
contacts.

Second, Smirnov�s contacts were described as �recent� and did
not apparently precede 2020. They have nothing to do with the
laptop or the evidence of influence-peddling found in emails on
that computer. This is solely a claim of a large payment to the
Bidens from Burisma.

Third, the Justice Department states that Smirnov had expressed
�bias� against Joe Biden and used �his routine and
unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma� to make the
bribery allegations.

So Smirnov operated off a bias against Biden, made an allegation
separate from the laptop, and ultimately disclosed his
communications to his U.S. handler. He detailed conversations
with the �son of a former high-ranking government official� and
�someone with ties to a particular Russian intelligence
service.� Reports indicate that Smirnov was not only an asset of
American intelligence but on the payroll for roughly a decade as
a trust informant.

That does not mean that the Russians were not eager to spread
false claims, though it shows again how low-grade such efforts
could be. It does not address hundreds of confirmed emails of
Hunter Biden cashing in on an array of foreign contacts.

Hunter Biden�s legal team is citing the filing in seeking to
cast doubt on all of the allegations and even the pending
charges: �It now seems clear that the Smirnov allegations
infected this case.�

They insists that the bribe allegation was key to the loss of
the plea agreement that they struck with the president�s son.
They argued that �having taken Mr. Smirnov�s bait of grand,
sensational charges, the Diversion Agreement that had just been
entered into and Plea Agreement that was on the verge of being
finalized suddenly became inconvenient for the prosecution, and
it reversed course and repudiated those Agreements.�

That is not how it happened.

Hunter Biden had received a sweetheart deal so rich as to put
most defendants into hyperglycemic shock. Hunter would have
avoided any jail time and been given sweeping immunity from
future charges.

The reason that the deal fell apart was not any particular
allegation of bribes. The alleged bribe was not part of the
case. It fell apart because the judge asked a simple question on
the meaning of the immunity. The deal immediately imploded as
the prosecutor was forced to admit that he had never seen a deal
like this for anyone other than Hunter Biden.

In relation to the influence-peddling investigation, this filing
does not change the evidence that the Biden family made millions
in shaking down foreign companies and business figures.

On Wednesday, Capitol Hill will witness something that many
thought would never come. The House is calling a Biden to
actually answer questions under oath about influence-peddling.
James Biden, brother of the president, will testify on his long
history of leveraging the name and influence of his brother.
That includes $200,000 given to him by a collapsing hospital
chain company, Americore.

Biden reportedly pitched a percentage deal with his brother and
immediately turned over the money to Joe Biden to pay off a
prior �loan.�

That was not the creation of a �biased� Russian but the Biden
family itself. Smirnov was not at the dinners and meetings where
Joe Biden called in to chat. He was not the recipient of
messages from Hunter threatening that his father was �sitting
next to� him and waiting for transfers of money. He was not the
source of gifts and expense accounts to cover Hunter�s lavish
lifestyle.

Most importantly, Smirnov was not the reason that Hunter was
indicted by the same prosecutor, David Weiss, who just indicted
him.

https://nypost.com/2024/02/21/opinion/this-lying-witness-does-
not-exonerate-the-bidens/

On Thu, 29 Feb 2024 12:30:35 +0100 (CET), "G. Bush" <gbush@republicans.usa> wrote:

>In relation to the influence-peddling investigation, this filing
>does not change the evidence that the Biden family made millions
>in shaking down foreign companies and business figures.

There is no proof of that, nor will there be since it didn't happen.

Swill
--
Trump and the DoJ

https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2024/01/18

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