Republican representatives Jim Jordan and Jim Comer were warned about uncorroborated allegations from a former FBI informant against Joe Biden, but still publicly promoted the claims.
The informant, Alexander Smirnov, was later charged with lying to the FBI and telling investigators that Russian intelligence was involved in spreading the story that Hunter and Joe Biden received $5 million in Burisma bribes.
Rep. Ken Buck said Jordan and Comer were warned of unknown credibility but promoted the allegations anyway.
Rep. Ken Buck: “We were warned that the credibility of this statement was not known, and yet my colleagues went out and talked to the public about how this was credible and damning…It appears to absolutely be false and really undercuts the nature of the charges.” pic.twitter.com/H0q7JC6auj
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) February 22, 2024
Rep. Buck said, “We were warned at the time that we received the document outlining this witness’s testimony – we were warned that the credibility of this statement was not known.”
“And yet people, my colleagues went out and talk to the public about how this was credible and how it was damning and how it proved President Biden’s – at the time Vice President Biden’s – complicity in receiving bribes,” he continued.
Buck added, “It appears to absolutely be false and to really undercut the nature of the charges.”
“I certainly didn’t have any evidence outside the statement itself that it was credible,” explained the lawmaker.
He concluded, “And as a prosecutor for 25 years, I never went to the public until I could prove the reliability of a statement. And even then, the only one public statement a prosecutor makes is the charging document. Let’s see what the evidence is in this impeachment, if there is more evidence before going forward.”
Republicans have continued their impeachment inquiry of Biden, but witnesses have rebutted their arguments.
Fox News’ Jessica Tarlov said, “I don’t know why Jim Comer and Jim Jordan thought that perhaps it was going to be Joe Biden’s brother that brought him down.”
“But this is the path that they’ve chosen to take. And honestly, I’m surprised that they have this high of a threshold for humiliation, every witness that they have called has decimated their argument.”
“Not only did he lie, he was lying because the Russians were feeding him the disinformation. It’s so embarrassing,” lamented the host.
Rep. Jamie Raskin said the “impeachment investigation essentially ended yesterday, in substance if not in form, with the explosive revelation.”
“It appears like the whole thing is not only, obviously, false and fraudulent, but a product of Russian disinformation and propaganda,” he continued.
“And that’s been the motor force behind this investigation for more than a year,” concluded the lawmaker.
Democrats say the inquiry essentially ended when it was revealed Russian disinformation fed the initial allegations at the core of the investigation.
