The now-discredited star witness in Joe Biden’s impeachment was taken back into custody on Thursday morning while meeting with his lawyers.
Alexander Smirnov was re-arrested after being released from custody on charges of making false statements to the FBI that were handed down last week.
Those charges allege that Smirnov lied about statements he made to authorities including that Hunter Biden had done business in Ukraine, and that he and president Joe Biden had received bribes from Ukrainian-based energy company Burisma.
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Smirnov was arrested Thursday for the same charges he was arrested for last week. Smirnov’s legal team quickly filed a motion for his release, alleging that the second arrest was improper. “There are no provisions for the re-arrest of Mr. Smirnov in this District after being Ordered released,” the motion said. His lawyers requested that Smirnov be immediately released, or receive a detention hearing “without unnecessary delay.”
On Tuesday, the DOJ noted that after Smirnov was initially arrested, he “admitted that officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story about” the president’s son.
At a detention hearing on Tuesday, Magistrate judge Daniel J. Albregts ordered that Smirnov should be released from custody with a GPS tracking monitor ahead of his trial. On Wednesday a judge filed court documents to reverse that order.
On Thursday, Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) said on CNN that the testimony of the FBI’s now-discredited star witness in Joe Biden’s impeachment came with a disclaimer—one which many Republicans ignored.
“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,” Buck said.
