The increasingly-discredited star witness for the GOP-led impeachment inquiry into president Joe Biden admitted to federal authorities that he had ties to high-ranking Russian officials, according to a memo from special counsel David Weiss filed on Tuesday.
“[Alexander] Smirnov’s contacts with Russian officials who are affiliated with Russian intelligence services are not benign,” the memo said.
“During his custodial interview on February 14, Smirnov admitted that officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story about [Hunter Biden],” the memo said.
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During his interview with the FBI Smirnov also reported numerous meetings with a particularly dangerous-sounding character: a high-ranking Russian government official that Smirnov described as someone who “controls two groups of individuals tasked with carrying out assassination efforts in a third-party country, a Russian representative to another country, and as someone with ties to a particular Russian intelligence service.”
The memo does not reveal the identity of Smirnov’s contacts.
Smirnov previously claimed that Hunter Biden had been given a seat on the board of a Ukrainian-based energy company Burisma for the purpose of shielding the company using his father’s political power—claims that have yet to be proven.
Last week, Smirnov was charged with making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record in relation to his testimony.
In the indictment, Weiss alleged that Smirnov lied about his meetings with Burisma, and added falsities to the stories he relayed when interviewed by the FBI in September. If convicted, Smirnov faces up to 25 years in prison.
