When then-Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy ordered an investigation into a possible political trial (incrimination) to the President of the United States, Joe Biden, he underlined that a “trusted FBI informant” had “alleged corruption against the Biden family”. Last week it became known that the informant was Alexander Smirnov, 43, and that what he had said was a lie. The public prosecutor accuses him of perjury and falsification of evidence for political reasons. Despite the gap in evidence against the president, Republicans are not giving up. They will continue to harass President and his son Hunter Biden as long as they feel it suits their interests.
The FD-1023 is a form used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to collect information from a classified human source. There has been non-stop talk in the US Capitol about a specific FD-1023, a four-page form, for months. In it, a source, now known as Smirnov, told the FBI that Joe Biden and his son Hunter had received five million dollars in commissions in 2015 or 2016 from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, paid by the company’s co-founder Mykola Zlochevsky .
The interview with that source occurred as part of an ongoing investigation into complaints filed in 2020 by Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for then-President Donald Trump. The Republican wanted to undermine the prestige of his likely rival in that year’s presidential election. Nothing supported the credibility of those complaints and when Giuliani himself found direct testimonies that contradicted them, he asked to “bury” them.
Paradoxically, the Republican obsession with Hunter Biden’s dealings in Ukraine and how his father may have benefited from them led to the first indictment of Trump for his pressure on the government of the then unknown Volodymyr Zelenskyj to investigate and indict the Bidens, otherwise threatening to withdraw aid to the country.
The FBI itself had attempted to clarify that collecting information from a source on a form does not validate it or establish its credibility. Even so, Biden’s rivals have insisted over and over again on that FD-1023 document. In it Smirnov also claimed to have text messages and up to 17 recordings, which made Republicans’ mouths water.
The obsession with impeachment
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A large number of deputies from Trump’s party are obsessed with the idea of subjecting Biden to a indictment. They do not condone the fact that the previous president was politically impeached twice. Since gaining a majority in the House of Representatives more than a year ago, they have searched endlessly for any evidence to accuse Biden of corruption. They saw the president’s weakness in his son, Hunter Biden.
Of course, they couldn’t blame the father for his son’s addictions and tax and legal problems (he’s accused in two different cases), so it was a matter of proving that Joe Biden benefited from Hunter’s foreign activities, as they tried to do. for years, but now with the power of the majority of the House. This is despite no significant evidence being found against the president and despite the fact that the facts under investigation date back to before he occupied his current position.
Smirnov’s false testimony indictment undermines corruption charges against Biden and further weakens Republican arguments. “Special Prosecutor David Weiss [que fue nombrado por el expresidente Donald Trump] demonstrated how the key test is at the heart of the investigation indictment of House Republicans is based on a lie,” Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin said in a statement. “Special Prosecutor Weiss’ investigation is only the latest to debunk the Ukraine-Burisma conspiracy theory at the heart of this fraudulent investigation of indictment”, He added.
Biden himself said this Friday at the White House that the investigation “should be abandoned.” “It was a disgraceful effort from the beginning,” he added.
Republicans, however, now say the famous shape wasn’t that important. “We have over 30 million reasons to continue this investigation and none of those reasons are based on FBI corruption or an informant. Bank records don’t lie,” tweeted Republican Congressman James Comer. The bank documents he was referring to appear to be another piece of false, or at least misleading, evidence.
After requests and subpoenas, the Republicans found a check for $200,000 from James Biden, Joe Biden’s brother, to the president and made a big fuss, without, however, clarifying that it was the repayment of a loan and hiding that there had been a transfer from the president to his brother of the same amount just two months earlier. These were also operations from 2018, when Biden was neither vice president nor president, carried out transparently, without the slightest intention of hiding them and without any indication of irregularity.
Republicans also found three corporate payments of $1,380 each, also in 2018, from Hunter Biden’s company to his father and wanted to make them appear to be a way to get money from China to the president. In reality it was three installments of the purchase of a Ford Raptor van. Joe Biden had requested the credit in his name as a favor to his son.
Like those, nearly every major new revelation from Republicans evaporates as soon as it hits the light and is examined with a magnifying glass. The White House has debunked the accusations and the most that the investigations have managed to demonstrate is that the current president, when he was Barack Obama’s vice president, once said hello on the phone and attended a dinner with Hunter’s associates or clients.
Evidence seems to matter less than political impact. Investigating Biden is one way to fight criminal charges against Trump. Republicans have already given signals that they will try to maintain pressure on Biden, will extend their investigations to the handling of classified documents (despite the legal exoneration) and will look for arguments to demand the indictment. It remains to be seen whether they will take this step, but the final decision will depend not so much on the evidence, but on whether Republicans consider themselves to be in the majority (moderates may distance themselves) and what they believe the consequences will be. it will be in an election year.
The investigation continues, and one of its highlights will come next week. After several scuffles, disagreements and some theatrics, Hunter Biden is subpoenaed to testify behind closed doors to Congress on February 28.
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