Former FBI informant Smirnov pleaded guilty to spreading lies about the Bidens

A former FBI informant pleaded guilty Monday to lying about a bribery scheme that allegedly involved Joe Biden and his son Hunter and that became the basis for an impeachment attempt against the president in Congress, The Hill reported.

Alexander Smirnov pleaded guilty to those charges, as well as to unrelated tax evasion charges after hiding millions in income.

Smirnov told the FBI that the head of Ukrainian energy company Burisma told him that he had paid both President Biden and his son Hunter $5 million in 2015. Smirnov eventually admitted to providing «false, discrediting information» about the president and his son.

During a conversation with investigators in September 2023, Smirnov also claimed that the Russians likely had wiretaps of Hunter Biden at a hotel in Kyiv where he was staying. However, Hunter Biden never traveled to Ukraine.

Smirnov claimed to have had contacts with officials connected to Russian intelligence, and after his arrest admitted that “officials connected to Russian intelligence” were involved in spreading the rumors about Hunter Biden.

Prosecutors and Smirnov agreed to a sentence of four to six years in prison. He is due to be sentenced next month. In this case, Smirnov will be credited with time served since his arrest in February.

The case against Smirnov was filed by special prosecutor David Weiss, who also filed a case against Hunter Biden on charges of illegal possession of weapons and tax evasion.

Hunter Biden was supposed to be sentenced in December, but his father, the current US president, pardoned his son, calling the trial «politicized».