*Biden’s revenge*
Alexander Smirnov, the FBI’s Confidential Human Source who blew the whistle on the Biden-Burisma bribery scheme, was arrested again on the same charges on Thursday after the federal prosecutors deemed him a flight risk.
Smirnov, a dual citizen of Israel and the US, was previously released from pre-trial detention by Las Vegas-based magistrate judge Daniel Albregts. Prosecutors urged Albregts to keep Smirnov behind bars because he has ‘ties to Russian intel officials’ who could help him flee. They also claimed Smirnov had access to millions of dollars and could flee on an Israeli passport.
Albregts refused to detain Smirnov. He just wasn’t buying what the federal prosecutors were alleging.
“I understand the concern about foreign intelligence agencies potentially resettling Mr. Smirnov outside of the United States, his connections to them, but I think on some level that’s speculative as well,” Albregts said, according to Politico. “Because, as Mr. Chesnoff points out, I don’t know what Mr. Smirnov will be thought of in Russia, but my guess is at this stage he probably thinks that’s not the most attractive place to go either if he was in fact inclined to go hide somewhere.”
Prosecutors filed additional charges against Smirnov in California since the Vegas-based magistrate judge refused to detain him.
Smirnov was arrested on Thursday while he was meeting with his lawyers which shows he was likely not a flight risk.
“On the morning of February 22, 2024, Mr. Smirnov was arrested for a second time — on the same charges and based on the same indictment,” his attorney David Chesnoff wrote in a court filing.
Biden’s DOJ is now alleging the FBI informant who was arrested and charged “is actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials in November.”
Alexander Smirnov was indicted for the first time last week by Hunter Biden Special Counsel David Weiss on one count each of making a false statement to the FBI and “creating a false and fictitious record.”
Smirnov was the underlying source of the Biden-Burisma bribery allegations. According to Smirnov, Burisma Holdings founder and Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky told him he paid a total of $10 million in bribes to Hunter and Joe Biden. There are text messages and audio recordings to back up these claims.
Recall that Senator Chuck Grassley last July released the FBI document showing Joe Biden was involved in a $10 million bribery scheme with Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky.
The FD-1023 form alleged then-Vice President Joe Biden FORCED Zlochevsky, a Ukrainian oligarch, to pay himself and his son Hunter Biden a total of $10 million.
Alexander Smirnov NEVER ‘spread Russian disinformation.’ He was a credible Confidential Human Source (CHS) that the FBI relied on for 10 years and they paid him more than $100,000 for information.
Democrats are using the arrest of Smirnov to torpedo the Biden impeachment inquiry since House Republicans relied on the Burisma whistleblower documents released by Senator Grassley for their probe.
Smirnov was rearrested on Thursday morning and his lawyers are now asking a federal judge in California for an emergency hearing.
Excerpt from Politico:
Lawyers for Alexander Smirnov, the former FBI informant charged with feeding the bureau false corruption allegations against Joe Biden, say he’s been re-arrested just days after a magistrate judge in Las Vegas ordered him released from pretrial custody.
Chesnoff said that Smirnov — who prosecutors had warned had extensive ties to Russian intelligence and was a risk of fleeing — had been meeting with his lawyers at the time of his second arrest, which was based on a warrant signed earlier Thursday. They described the development as “bizarre” and urged a federal judge in California — where Smirnov’s charges were filed — to quickly call a hearing on the matter.
“It should further be noted that the fact that the Defendant was attending a legal consultation meeting at his attorneys’ office contradicts the notion that he is a risk of flight,” Chesnoff wrote.
Prosecutors have asked Los Angeles-based U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II to reverse Albregts’ decision, but Wright has yet to set a hearing. Smirnov’s attorneys are asking Wright to immediately call a hearing date in light of their client’s new arrest.