Was Smirnov Bribed to Lie About Biden?

[Res Ipsa]

Smirnov, the latest Star witness of the Find Something, Anything, to Smear President Biden House Committees, is back in the news. I’ve been puzzled by one aspect of his story: simply being a conduit for disinformation from Russian Intelligence doesn’t explain he decided to lie about things he saw and heard. I mean, are the Russians that good? Can they gaslight or hypnotize someone into making stuff up?

An article from the Guardian may provide an answer. In 2020, the year that Smirnov first claimed the head of Burisma told him back in 2016 that he had to pay bribes to Joe and Hunter, he received $600,000 from a Texas company. In the Spring of 2020, the CEO of the Texas company formed a British Company using a similar name, with two guys from Dubai. The guys from Dubai are connected to Trump though construction projects in Dubai. The British company dissolved in 2021.

The links are a little convoluted for my taste. But it should be relatively simple to determine whether the British Company was used, or even formed, to funnel money to Smirnov. The Texas CEO says the payment was for some kind of platform Smirnov was developing for Bitcoin trading. That should be easy for those House Committees to verify. You know, if they have any interest in the truth.

This is a nice bookend for Comer and Jordan’s “investigations.” Their first slam dunk witness turned out to have bribed President Elect Trump’s National Security Adviser on behalf of China.

Ironically, these two star witnesses have closer ties to Trump than the Committees have ever established between President Biden and Burisma or China.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... RJJuYFIYi4

[Moksha]

Is this where the expression "Trumped up" originates?

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Conspiracy theorizing at its worst.

- Doc

[Res Ipsa]

Marcy Wheeler has more information about Smirnov from the Wall Street Journal and CBS News. https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/03/14/a ... r-smirnov/ She points out that the indictment indicates that Smirnov had been authorized by the FBI to commit a crime in order to investigate something in August 2020. That could mean that the $600,000 payment was connected with some other investigation of the Texas company or its CEO and nothing to do with the Bidens.

I'd love to keep an eye on the Smirnov case because this whole Confidential Informant business is fascinating. The government just filed a CIPA notice, so I don't know how much the public will be able to learn.