The GOP’s impeachment efforts against President Biden faced a setback as a former FBI informant, Alexander Smirnov, was arrested for fabricating bribery allegations against Biden and his son.
Smirnov’s false claims have been central to the impeachment push by Republicans, who have used them to rally support for the investigation.
Democrats are now calling for an end to the impeachment inquiry in light of the indictment against Smirnov.
“The impeachable offense is — I think, the key thing is in Burisma,” House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan said.
The GOP’s focus on the bribery allegations has been criticized, as they have struggled to prove their claims of influence peddling by the Bidens.
“The Republicans on the Senate side in 2020 did their own investigation and said they couldn’t find anything to it. So we’re not that surprised that this has happened, but it is an amazing turn of events. And I do think it’s an opportunity for a reset on the Republican side,” Rep. Jamie Raskin said.
“This really is the heart of it. I think it’s an opportunity for them to say, ‘You know what, we gave it our best shot, but we’re gonna give up the ghost. There’s nothing there.’”
“The impeachment inquiry is not reliant on the FBI’s FD-1023,” Comer said.
“It is based on a large record of evidence, including bank records and witness testimony, revealing that Joe Biden knew of and participated in his family’s business dealings.”
“The indictment alleges that the defendant transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against Public Official 1 after expressing bias against Public Official 1 and his presidential candidacy,” the Justice Department wrote.
“The events the Defendant first reported to the Handler in June 2020 were fabrications. In truth and fact, the Defendant had contact with executives from Burisma in 2017, after the end of the Obama-Biden Administration and after the then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General had been fired in February 2016, in other words, when Public Official 1 had no ability to influence U.S. policy and when the Prosecutor General was no longer in office.”
“Thoughts and prayers to James Comer and the fake, frivolous, faux Biden impeachment that they’ve been trying to run. … Now what do we find out? What we’ve known all along, that this 1023 form that they cried over for months and months was all a lie. It was all a lie. And the guy who made it up has been indicted,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz said.
“The political problem we have is that politically, it would be very nice if you had what everybody calls the smoking gun. The reality is, in a lot of these large-scale cases, there never is. There’s a totality of evidence and a totality of circumstances that says there is no rational explanation for all of it,” Rep. Kelly Armstrong said previously.
“We will continue to follow the facts to propose legislation to reform federal ethics laws and to determine whether articles of impeachment are warranted,” Comer said.
The FBI’s handling of the informant and the credibility of the allegations have also come under scrutiny.
“The FBI’s actions in this matter are very concerning,” Comer said. “The FBI had this form for years and it appears they did nothing to verify the troubling claims contained within the record until Congress became aware of and demanded access to them.”
“It’s hard to fathom what a spectacular failure this Comer/Jordan impeachment is,” Rep. Dan Goldman wrote on X.
Most Popular:
Explosive Testimony Released From Hunter Biden’s Business Partner
Democrat Slams Lack of Respect For ‘Black National Anthem’
