Among the shocking details of the DOJ filing on ex-FBI informant busted for telling lies about President Joe Biden and Hunter Biden is that his contacts included someone who controlled an assassination squad.

Special Counsel David Weiss announced Thursday that Alexander Smirnov — a key informant behind the Republican effort to impeach the president over his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings — has been charged with lying to the FBI.

In a new and stunning 28-page filing Tuesday, Weiss and his team laid out shocking details of Smirnov’s alleged crimes and the reasons he should be imprisoned pending trial.

One of those reasons is Smirnov’s extensive foreign contacts, which include someone in charge of a group whose job it is to carry out foreign assassinations — and whom Smirnov implicated in a lie about Hunter Biden:

Of particular note, Smirnov has reported numerous contacts with Russian Official 1, who has been described by Smirnov in a number of ways, including as the son of a former high-ranking Russian government official, someone who purportedly controls two groups of individuals tasked with carrying out assassination efforts in a third-party country, a Russian representative to another country, and as someone with ties to a particular Russian intelligence service. This latter fact was reported by Smirnov in October, 2023.

In December 2023, Smirnov reported to his Handler about a recent overseas trip, where Smirnov attended a meeting with Russian Official 2, who Smirnov has described as a high-ranking member of a specific Russian foreign intelligence service. According to Smirnov, the purpose of the meeting was to discuss a potential resolution to Russia’s war against Ukraine. During this same trip, Smirnov apparently attended a separate meeting with Russian Official 1, the individual who controls groups that are engaged in overseas assassination efforts.

During this meeting with Russian Official 1, Russian Official 1 claimed that another individual, Russian Official 4, the head of a particular unit of a Russian Intelligence Service, ran an intelligence operation at a “club” located at a particular hotel. Smirnov told the FBI Handler that the Russian Intelligence Service intercepted cell phone calls made by guests at the hotel. The Russian Intelligence Service intercepted several calls placed by prominent U.S. persons the Russian government may use as “kompromat” in the 2024 election, depending on who the candidates will be. As described below, this story, which again was relayed by Smirnov to his Handler in/about December, 2023, appears to mirror the story that Smirnov was pushing on investigators and prosecutors during their meeting with him in September, 2023 (in which Smirnov pushed investigators to look into whether Businessperson 1 had been recorded in a foreign hotel).

“Businessperson 1” is the name by which Hunter Biden is referred in the filing.

The filing goes on to note repeatedly that Smirnov’s lies present a current danger of election interference, and outlines the fake story that seems to be the same one he attributed to the assassination squad guy:

Of particular note, Smirnov has reported numerous contacts with Russian Official 1, who has been described by Smirnov in a number of ways, including as the son of a former high-ranking Russian government official, someone who purportedly controls two groups of individuals tasked with carrying out assassination efforts in a third-party country, a Russian representative to another country, and as someone with ties to a particular Russian intelligence service. This latter fact was reported by Smirnov in October, 2023.

In December 2023, Smirnov reported to his Handler about a recent overseas trip, where Smirnov attended a meeting with Russian Official 2, who Smirnov has described as a high-ranking member of a specific Russian foreign intelligence service. According to Smirnov, the purpose of the meeting was to discuss a potential resolution to Russia’s war against Ukraine. During this same trip, Smirnov apparently attended a separate meeting with Russian Official 1, the individual who controls groups that are engaged in overseas assassination efforts.

During this meeting with Russian Official 1, Russian Official 1 claimed that another individual, Russian Official 4, the head of a particular unit of a Russian Intelligence Service, ran an intelligence operation at a “club” located at a particular hotel. Smirnov told the FBI Handler that the Russian Intelligence Service intercepted cell phone calls made by guests at the hotel. The Russian Intelligence Service intercepted several calls placed by prominent U.S. persons the Russian government may use as “kompromat” in the 2024 election, depending on who the candidates will be.

As described below, this story, which again was relayed by Smirnov to his Handler in/about December, 2023, appears to mirror the story that Smirnov was pushing on investigators and prosecutors during their meeting with him in September, 2023 (in which Smirnov pushed investigators to look into whether Businessperson 1 had been recorded in a foreign hotel).

Later in the filing, Weiss warned:

Smirnov’s efforts to spread misinformation about a candidate of one of the two major parties in the United States continues. The Court should consider this conduct as well when evaluating his personal history and characteristics. What this shows is that the misinformation he is spreading is not confined to 2020. He is actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials in November. In light of that fact there is a serious risk he will flee in order to avoid accountability for his actions.

There were several other references to the current presidential election warning of Smirnov’s potential to affect the outcome — including that he indicated “bias” against Biden to his FBI handler:

Smirnov transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against Public Official 1, the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties for President, after expressing bias against Public Official 1 and his candidacy.

…

(T)he false information he provided was not trivial. It targeted the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties in the United States. The effects of Smirnov’s false statements and fabricated information continue to be felt to this day.

Read the entire filing here.

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