The FBI suffered a "real embarrassment" and "black eye" over last week's charging of the informant who allegedly provided false information about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, legal analyst Elie Honig said.
Alexander Smirnov was indicted by special counsel David Weiss on Thursday for allegedly lying to FBI officials about the Biden family's business dealings with Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings. Honig told CNN on Wednesday that those charges suggest that the bureau failed to properly check on Smirnov's credibility and confirm the claims he made.
"They clearly failed to do that," Honig said. "It is a real embarrassment for the FBI, it's a black eye, to have someone who has been providing information, apparently...what the FBI took as very important information for a decade and now to learn that he lied to them. They got played."
The FBI declined Newsweek's request for comment.
The indictment was also a huge blow to the impeachment inquiry launched by House Republicans, who defended Smirnov's credibility and record as an FBI informant in the wake of the charges.
House Oversight Chair James Comer said in a statement last week: "When asked by the committee about their confidence in the confidential human source, the FBI told the committee the confidential human source was credible and trusted, had worked with the FBI for over a decade, and had been paid six figures."
Congressional Republicans have put Smirnov's allegations at the center of their nearly yearlong inquiry into Biden's son, repeatedly calling him a "trusted informant" who showed the president was directly involved in corruption schemes.
Comer appeared to downplay the now-discredited claims in his statement, saying that the House GOP's inquiry wasn't based solely on what Smirnov said but also on "a large record of evidence, including bank records and witness testimony."
But Honig said last week's indictment was also an "embarrassment" for Comer and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan "any way you cook it."
"The impeachment inquiry...was already built on a shaky foundation, but this guy was a big part of that foundation and now it has crumbled altogether," the legal commentator said. "The House impeachment inquiry had a flimsy basis to begin with, and now they've got nothing."
Weiss, who charged Smirnov last week, is also the special counsel behind the two indictments of Hunter Biden—a federal case in Delaware over firearms possession and another in California related to tax fraud.
Honig said that while last week's indictment against Smirnov had "no impact" on the pending indictments against the younger Biden, Hunter's lawyers could argue that the FBI should revive the plea deal that collapsed over the summer.
Hunter had been expected to plead guilty to the gun charges in August, but the deal collapsed during a court hearing after the two sides sparred over whether the plea would grant him immunity from future charges.
"The reason that the FBI backed out on that plea deal at all, according to Hunter Biden's lawyers, is because they were relying on faulty information from Mr. Smirnov," Honig said. "I think that's an interesting argument, and I think it's perhaps overly aggressive. So I think those two indictments are going to stay in place and proceed."
Update 2/21/24, 9:32 a.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information and background.
Update 2/21/24, 8:46 a.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.
Update 2/21/24, 1:34 p.m. ET: This story was updated to say the FBI declined to comment.
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Katherine Fung is a Newsweek reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and world politics. ... Read more
