WASHINGTON (AA) - US prosecutors said Tuesday in a news court filing that a former FBI informant who was charged with lying about President Joe Biden’s and his son, Hunter’s, dealing in Ukraine, received information from with Russian intelligence-affiliated officials.
Prosecutors also said Alexander Smirnov, 43, has been “actively peddling new lies that could impact US elections” after meeting Russian officials last year and the results of previous bribery accusations about the Bidens is still “felt to this day,” CNN reported.
Prosecutors said Smirnow said he had “extensive and extremely recent” contacts with foreign intelligence officials and he previously told the bureau that “he has longstanding and extensive contacts with Russian spies, including individuals he said were high-level intelligence officers or command Russian assassins abroad.”
Smirnov was charged last week with giving false statements to the FBI and was arrested in the state of Nevada on Thursday, according to the Justice Department.
In a statement provided to CNN, Smirnov's lawyers said he is “presumed innocent.”
It came amid criticism about how Smirnov's discredited accusations influenced an impeachment inquiry by Republicans in the House of Representatives against the elder Biden.