A federal judge rejected<\/a> Special Counsel David Weiss\u2019s request that confidential human source<\/a> Alexander Smirnov remain jailed pending trial<\/a> on charges that he lied to the FBI. While\u200c the special counsel\u2019s office lost its \u2062motion to detain Smirnov, Weiss likely viewed the defeat as a public relations victory, given the gratuitous details he included in the memorandum filed with the court. <\/p>\n

Weiss would be \u200dwrong, however, to consider anything about \u200chis office\u2019s prosecution of Smirnov \u2063as a win. Rather, Tuesday\u2019s court filing \u2014 if accurate \u2014 renders Weiss\u2019s incompetence even more consequential.<\/p>\n

Last week, news broke that Weiss had charged Smirnov in a two-count\u2064 indictment with making \u2064false statements to the FBI and creating a false and fictitious\u200b record. The charges stem from Smirnov\u2019s alleged\u200b lies to the FBI in June of 2020 concerning conversations Smirnov claims he had\u200b in 2015-2016 and then again in 2017 with various executives of the Ukrainian energy company\u200b Burisma. <\/p>\n

Among other things, Smirnov claimed Burisma executives said \u200cHunter\u2064 and Joe Biden pressured them to \u200bpay them $5 million each in bribes to ensure\u2064 the Ukrainian prosecutor\u2019s office left Burisma untouched. The handler memorialized Smirnov\u2019s reporting in an FD-1023, which Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, later released to the public\u2063 after whistleblowers suggested the Delaware U.S. attorney\u2019s office had failed to investigate the CHS\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n

In\u200d indicting Smirnov, Weiss\u200d confirmed his office \u200chad botched the Hunter Biden\u2064 investigation by ignoring the FD-1023 \u200cfor nearly three years \u2014 and then only investigating Smirnov\u2019s\u2062 claims after Grassley \u200bmade the \u200bdocument public. Specifically, according to Thursday\u2019s indictment, the \u2062FBI did\u200c not question Smirnov about his reporting until Sept. 27, 2023. <\/p>\n

As I wrote<\/a> at the time, the \u201ctimeline confirms the \u2063incompetence of Weiss in handling the investigation into Hunter\u2062 Biden because in October 2020,\u2064 Weiss\u2019s Delaware office received \u2018a substantive \u200dbriefing\u2019 concerning \u2064the FD-1023 from\u2063 the Pittsburgh\u2062 U.S. attorney\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Former Attorney General William Barr had tasked Pittsburgh with screening information related to Ukraine, which\u2063 agents did with the\u200d FD-1023. Among\u2064 other \u2064things, the Pennsylvania-based office obtained travel records of the confidential human source (CHS) and communicated with the CHS\u2019s\u2064 handler, with the\u2062 information obtained\u2064 consistent \u200dwith Smirnov\u2019s representations in the FD-1023. In screening the material, the U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh, Scott Brady, also vetted the FD-1023 \u201cagainst known sources of Russian disinformation,\u201d and found no connection. Accordingly, Pittsburgh closed out its screening process and forwarded the material to Delaware, recommending that Weiss\u2019s team investigate the\u2062 allegations.<\/p>\n

U.S. Attorney Weiss\u2019s team must have\u200d done \u200cnothing further, though, because not only did the FBI only recently question Smirnov, but Smirnov continued to serve as a CHS for the FBI. That later point \u200donly \u200bbecame clear Tuesday when the special counsel\u2019s office filed a motion to keep Smirnov detained pending trial.<\/p>\n

In Tuesday\u2019s\u200c memorandum in support of detention, Weiss argued Smirnov was a flight risk, \u2062supporting that argument in part by highlighting Smirnov\u2019s many connections to foreign intelligence services, including individuals in Russian intelligence. <\/p>\n

And how do we know about those connections? Because Smirnov\u2063 reported the contacts to his \u200dhandler.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

For instance,\u2062 in\u200b October 2023, Smirnov reported numerous contacts with Russian Official 1, who was described \u201cas the son of a former high-ranking Russian government official.\u201d Smirnov apparently also claimed Russian Official 1\u2062 controlled \u201ctwo groups of individuals tasked with carrying out assassination efforts in a third-party country,\u201d as well as \u201csomeone with ties to a particular Russian intelligence service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smirnov also reported to his handler a\u2063 meeting in\u200c December 2023 with Russian Official 1, as well as a second meeting with Russian Official 2, the latter of whom Smirnov \u201cdescribed as a high-ranking member of a \u2062specific\u2062 Russian\u2064 foreign intelligence \u200dservice.\u201d Smirnov further claimed that during this trip, he learned that \u201cRussian Official 4, the head of a particular unit of a Russian Intelligence Service, ran an intelligence operation at\u2064 a \u2018club\u2019 located at a particular\u2064 hotel.\u201d Smirnov told his handler that \u2064\u201cthe Russian Intelligence\u200c Service intercepted several calls placed by prominent U.S. persons the Russian government \u200dmay use as \u2018kompromat\u2019 in the 2024 election\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

In Tuesday\u2019s\u2062 court filing, Special Counsel Weiss\u2019s office argued,\u200c \u201cSmirnov\u2019s contacts with Russian officials who \u200bare affiliated with Russian intelligence services are not \u2064benign,\u201d because when the FBI finally got around to interviewing him in September 2023, Smirnov claimed he had seen video footage of Hunter Biden at the \u200dRussian-controlled hotel in \u200cKiev. But Hunter had never traveled to Kiev, the motion\u2062 stressed. This shows,\u200b according to Weiss, that Smirnov is attempting to interfere in the 2024 election. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe \u2064is actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials in November,\u201d Weiss wrote in Tuesday\u2019s filing \u2014 a not-so-subtle \u2064suggestion that Smirnov is taking part in a Russian \u200cdisinformation plot to interfere in the upcoming presidential election.<\/p>\n

If true, \u200cWeiss\u2019s incompetence left the man he would have us believe \u200bis a Russian asset not just free in America, but \u2064working to interfere in our election and pushing who knows what \u2063other lies to the FBI. Further, because the Delaware U.S. attorney\u2019s office did not investigate Smirnov\u2019s\u2064 claims in 2020, he was never branded as a possible source of Russian lies. <\/p>\n

Recall also that until recently, the FBI considered Smirnov a highly credible source and one \u2064even authorized to engage in criminal conduct. What information might our FBI have\u200c entrusted Smirnov with during those three years? <\/p>\n

In short, \u2064while the Delaware U.S. attorney\u2019s office\u2019s goal\u2064 may have been protecting\u200d Hunter Biden, by failing to investigate the FD-1023, they harmed our national security.<\/p>\n

This all \u2063assumes the indictment and the memorandum represent reality. Smirnov has yet to have his\u2062 day in court, and there may be much more to the story. But one thing is certain, even if Smirnov is guilty, that does not exonerate Weiss. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

rnrn <\/p>\n

How does Smirnov’s reporting of his connections\u2062 to Russian\u2063 intelligence services raise questions about the competence of Weiss’s office in handling the investigation<\/h2>\n
Incompetence and\u2064 Mishandling: Special Counsel David Weiss’s \u200bProsecution of Alexander Smirnov<\/p>\n
A federal judge recently rejected\u200d Special\u2063 Counsel David \u200bWeiss’s request to keep Alexander\u200d Smirnov, a confidential\u2064 human source<\/a>, jailed pending trial on charges of lying to the FBI. While Weiss may have viewed this defeat as\u200d a public relations victory, it actually highlights the incompetence and mishandling of his office’s prosecution \u2063of Smirnov.<\/p>\n
Last week, it was reported\u200d that Weiss had charged Smirnov with making false statements to the FBI and creating a false record. These charges stem from Smirnov’s alleged lies about conversations he had with executives of the Ukrainian energy \u2062company Burisma in 2015-2016 and 2017. Smirnov claimed that Hunter and Joe Biden pressured Burisma to pay them $5 million each in bribes to protect the company from an \u2063investigation.<\/p>\n
What makes Weiss’s prosecution of \u2062Smirnov even more concerning is the revelation that his office ignored\u2062 crucial evidence for almost three years. The FD-1023, \u200cwhich contained \u2062Smirnov’s reporting, was released to the public by Senator Chuck Grassley after whistleblowers suggested that the Delaware\u200b U.S. attorney’s \u2062office \u2064had failed to\u200c investigate Smirnov’s claims. Only after the document became public did Weiss’s office begin to investigate Smirnov’s allegations.<\/p>\n
It is worth noting that the Pittsburgh U.S. attorney’s office, under \u200cformer Attorney General William Barr’s\u2063 direction, had previously screened the FD-1023 for\u200b Ukraine-related information. The material obtained was consistent with Smirnov’s representations, and it was recommended that Weiss’s team investigate the \u200callegations. However, it \u200cappears that no further action was taken, despite the FBI only recently questioning Smirnov.<\/p>\n
In a memorandum filed in support of\u200c detention, Weiss \u200cargued that \u200bSmirnov was a flight risk due to his connections\u2062 to foreign intelligence services, including individuals in Russian intelligence. However, these connections were known because Smirnov reported them to his \u200chandler. For example, Smirnov reported contacts with Russian Official 1, who was described as \u2064the son\u2064 of a former high-ranking Russian government official. Smirnov also described meeting with Russian Official 2, a\u2063 high-ranking\u200b member of a specific Russian foreign intelligence service. He claimed \u2062to\u200d have learned that Russian Official 4 ran\u200b an\u200d intelligence operation that\u200b intercepted calls by prominent U.S. individuals.<\/p>\n
This court filing exposes the incompetence of Weiss’s office in handling \u2062the investigation into Hunter Biden. It raises questions about why Smirnov continued to serve \u2062as a confidential human source for the FBI while allegations against \u200chim were being investigated. Furthermore, the fact that these connections\u2064 to Russian intelligence were known because Smirnov reported them suggests that the office failed to act on this information promptly.<\/p>\n
Overall, the mishandling and incompetence displayed by Special Counsel David Weiss’s office in the prosecution of Alexander\u2064 Smirnov are concerning. It raises doubts about \u2063the effectiveness and thoroughness of the investigation into Hunter Biden and undermines the \u2062public’s confidence in the integrity of the special counsel’s office. It remains to\u2064 be seen how this will impact\u200d the ongoing trial and the perception of\u200b Weiss and his team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A federal judge denied Special Counsel David Weiss’s request to keep Alexander Smirnov in jail before trial for lying to the FBI. Although the special counsel’s office failed to detain Smirnov, Weiss may have seen it as a PR win due to the excessive information he provided<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":499,"featured_media":2183057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Hunter-Biden-and-Abbe-Lowell-2023.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2183056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Hunter-Biden-and-Abbe-Lowell-2023.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2183056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2183056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2183056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2183057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2183056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2183056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2183056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}