Joe Biden on Friday demanded that impeachment proceedings against him be dropped after a key witness was charged with fabricating a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving the president, his son Hunter and a Ukrainian energy company.
Republicans insist that Biden and his family corruptly used his foreign connections to enrich themselves but have struggled to produce evidence.
This week it emerged that an FBI informant had been accused of lying about payments from Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company.
'He is lying,' said Biden when he was asked for his response Friday.
'It should be dropped and it's just been an outrageous effort from the beginning.'
Alexander Smirnov, 43, is accused of making a false statement and creating a false record for statements he made to the FBI in 2020 and, if convicted, faces a maximum of 25 years in prison.
He was arrested on Thursday at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas after arriving in the United States and appeared in federal court later that day.
Court filings show Smirnov told the FBI that in March 2017 that he had a conversation with the owner of Burisma about acquiring a business in the U.S.
He alleged that executives associated with Burisma paid Hunter and his father $5 million in 2015 and 2016, and that an executive claimed to have hired the younger Biden to the board to 'protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems.'
But prosecutors say Smirnov had routine contact with Burisma executives in 2017, after Biden was no longer vice president and had no ability to influence policy. --->READ MORE HERE
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| Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images |
President Joe Biden called Friday for the House to shut down its impeachment inquiry into alleged influence peddling after the indictment of an FBI informant who said Biden might have accepted $5 million in bribes while vice president.
Special counsel David Weiss, appointed to investigate the financial activities of the president’s son, Hunter Biden, secured a grand jury indictment against Alexander Smirnov, alleging that he lied to the FBI. Smirnov faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
A reporter asked Biden about the indictment at a press conference Friday, and whether the House should drop its impeachment inquiry.
“He is lying and it should be dropped, and it’s just been an outrageous effort from the beginning,” Biden said of Smirnov and the impeachment probe.
But House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., who is in charge of the inquiry, said the impeachment investigation doesn’t rely on Smirnov’s allegation of a bribe made in an FBI form known as a FD-1023. Comer said other evidence shows that millions of dollars in foreign cash went to Hunter Biden and other members of the Biden family.
Business associates of the Biden family have said that Joe Biden, mostly while vice president, was “the brand” in doing business in foreign countries.
“We have over $30 million reasons to continue this investigation and not one of those reasons relies on the corrupt FBI or an informant,” Comer said in a written statement, adding:
Bank records don’t lie. Bank records and witness testimony reveal Joe Biden knew about and participated in his family’s business schemes, and he has repeatedly lied to the American people about these facts. The American people demand the truth and accountability for any wrongdoing. We will continue to follow the facts to propose legislation to reform federal ethics laws and to determine whether articles of impeachment are warranted.
Last fall, the Oversight Committee released copies of checks showing separate payments of $40,000 and $200,000 made directly to the elder Biden, filtered through either shell companies or family members. This information was separate from claims made by the FBI informant.
The House formally voted in December to approve an impeachment inquiry into Biden. The probe is being conducted by three committees: Oversight and Accountability, Ways and Means, and Judiciary. --->READ MORE HERE
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