Ken Buck Says Republicans Ignored Warning About Biden Impeachment Witness

Representative Ken Buck (R-CO) said 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, according to The Hill. While appearing on CNN, Buck expressed disappointment in his fellow GOP members for taking the unverified word of Alexander Smirnov, and running with it. “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,” Rep. Buck said. “And yet, people, my colleagues went out and talk to the public about how this was credible and how it was damning and how it proved President Biden’s—at the time Vice President Biden’s—complicity in receiving bribes,” he added. Last week, Smirnov was charged with making false statements in his testimony to the FBI. On Monday, a memo released by Special Counsel David Weiss revealed that Smirnov said he got his stories about Hunter Biden’s alleged business in Ukraine from Russian government officials. Buck said that Smirnov’s testimony appeared to be false, and said his fellow Republicans should’ve known better. “I certainly didn’t have any evidence outside the statement itself that it was credible. And as a prosecutor for 25 years, Kaitlan, I never went to the public until I could prove the reliability of a statement.”