“Only after Mr. Smirnov reported that President Joe Biden accepted a bribe from a Ukrainian energy company in exchange for using his official position to oust the Ukrainian Prosecutor General did the FBI apparently take a hard look at this CHS.”
In a letter sent by House Republicans on Friday, the Representatives are demanding that the FBI turn over records related to the indictment of former confidential human source Alexander Smirnov.
The letter, obtained by The Federalist, was sent by House Oversight Chairman James Comer and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan to FBI Director Christoper Wray, and requests documents related to special counsel David Weiss’ indictment of Smirnov. They questioned why the FBI decided to conduct a review of Smirnov's credibility as a confidential human source (CHS) around three years after the statements were made, with the CHS form FD-1023 being dated June 30, 2020 and finally being able to be reviewed by Congress members in June of 2023.
Smirnov has been accused of falsely telling the FBI that executives at Burisma had paid $5 million both to Hunter Biden as well as the president.
"Prior to the indictment, the FBI allowed Mr. Smirnov to serve as a CHS for over 14 years and earn a six-figure income, while maintaining ‘extensive and extremely recent’ foreign intelligence contacts," lawmakers wrote, later adding that it was "only after Mr. Smirnov reported that President Joe Biden accepted a bribe from a Ukrainian energy company in exchange for using his official position to oust the Ukrainian Prosecutor General did the FBI apparently take a hard look at this CHS."
Smirnov has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and appeared in court on Monday where a judge determined he must remain behind bars as he awaits trial.
"At each step in the investigation, the FBI represented to the Committees that the CHS was highly credible and that disclosure of information about the CHS could jeopardize national security," Comer and Jordan wrote.
The two detailed how the FBI fought to keep their congressional committees in the dark about the official FD-1023 form in which Smirnov outlined the bribery scheme.
"At no time did the FBI correct its representations to the Committees about the credibility of the CHS or the apparently baseless assertions that release of his information would endanger Americans," they wrote. "The FBI’s noncooperation prevented the Committees from ever knowing Mr. Smirnov’s identity, speaking with him directly or indirectly, or independently assessing the credibility of the information he provided."
The FBI has been given until March 15 to provide the requested documents.
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