A former FBI informant enters a guilty plea to Bidens' fictitious bribery scheme

A former FBI informant enters a guilty plea to Bidens' fictitious bribery scheme. The Republican impeachment investigation focused on the fictitious bribery plan involving US President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Former FBI informant pleads guilty to  lying about alleged bribery scheme involving Biden

The  bogus bribery scheme involving US President Joe Biden and his  son Hunter was  at the center of the Republican impeachment  inquiry.
biden
Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden,  speaks to reporters on December 13, 2003 at the US  Capitol in Washington, Dc US.
A former FBI informant has pleaded guilty to lying about  an alleged bribery scheme involving  US President Joe Biden and his son  Hunter, which was later used by Republicans in Congress as part of an impeachment  inquiry.
Alexander Smirnov  pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Los Angeles to a felony related to the  false story,  as well as a tax evasion  count stemming from a separate indictment  that accused him of concealing millions of dollars  in income.
Prosecutors and the  defense have agreed to recommend a sentence of four  to six years in prison when he is sentenced next  month.
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Smirnov, 44, was arrested in  February, accused of making a "false statement" and "creating a false and fictitious  dossier" on his FBI  agent that executives  of Ukrainian energy company Burisma had paid President Biden and Hunter Biden  about $5 million each. . 2015. Smirnov made the politically  motivated allegations in June  2020 after "expressing bias"  against Joe Biden when he was running for president, prosecutors  said.
In fact, Smirnov had only routine dealings with Burisma starting in 2017, according to court  documents.

The FBI  has found no evidence that Joe Biden acted corruptly or  took bribes  while president  of the United States or in his previous  role as vice  president.
Although Smirnov's identity  was not publicly known before the indictment, his  allegations played a major  role in Republican  efforts in Congress to investigate the president and his  family and helped spark a House impeachment inquiry into  Biden.
Before Smirnov's arrest, Republicans had  asked the FBI  to release the unredacted form documenting the unverified allegations, though they acknowledged they  could not confirm they were  true. In a conversation with  investigators in September 2023, Smirnov also  said that the Russians  likely had recordings of Hunter Biden because a hotel in  the Ukrainian capital where he was  "connected" and under their control —  the reports were passed to him by four  senior Russian  officials.
But Hunter Biden had never  traveled to Ukraine, according to Smirnov's  indictment.
Smirnov claimed to have  had contact with  officials linked to Russian  intelligence and told authorities after his arrest this year that "officials  linked to Russian intelligence were involved in  spreading a story" about Hunter  Biden.
"Despite repeated  warnings that he must provide truthful information to the FBI and that he  should not  testify, the defendant provided false  and disparaging information" about the Bidens, prosecutors said in federal  court.
Hunter Biden was  scheduled to be sentenced this month after  he was convicted in a gun case and  pleaded guilty to federal charges in  another tax case. But he was pardoned this month by his father, who said he  believes "brutal politics  have infected this process and led to a miscarriage of  justice."