excalibur
Diamond Member
- Mar 19, 2015
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This is a disgrace, and Andrew McCarthy has touched on this as well.
Everything you see being done is to protect the Biden regime. As if we were North Korea with one ruling family.
Everything you see being done is to protect the Biden regime. As if we were North Korea with one ruling family.
This article about the death of the FBI’s informant program should be read in conjunction with my July 2023 article titled The Infamous FBI 1023. I won’t review everything from it but essentially, I expressed concerns about how a then unknown FBI informant’s information was acquired, and how it was being described in the media. Not patting myself on the back too hard, but much of what I wrote has come to pass. We now know much more from the public filing of an indictment and detention motion last week by DOJ Special Counsel David Weiss concerning Alexander Smirnov, aka, the informant.
Recall David Weiss was the U.S. Attorney in Delaware, appointed by President Trump, but acceptable to both state’s democrat U.S. Senators – that’s how U.S. Attorney appointments work. He was responsible for the investigation of President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, concerning allegations of tax fraud, weapons violations, and potentially, the Foreign Agents Registration Act. After allowing two of the most serious allegations regarding Hunter Biden to expire past the statute of limitations, (something an Assistant U.S. Attorney working for Weiss could be fired for,) he negotiated what many legal scholars described as a “Sweetheart Deal” where Hunter Biden would be charged with two misdemeanors and given immunity for any other federal violations he may have committed.
When a federal judge in Delaware saw through the deal and ordered it rewritten, Weiss complained he lacked authority outside Delaware, and was appointed Special Counsel status by AG Merrick Garland. (Against the DOJ appointment regulation because he was not from “outside” DOJ, but irrelevant for this discussion.) In late 2023, Hunter Biden was charged with gun and tax charges and has plead not guilty.
The Grand Jury Indictment
Now back to Alexander Smirnov, who had been an FBI informant since 2010. Up until last week he was described by the FBI as highly reliable, and his reporting, according to Weiss, was used in several criminal investigations. In 2017, he reported to his FBI handlers about corruption and other matters concerning public officials and businessmen relating to Ukraine. Much of this reporting went back as far as 2015. The information was memorialized on an FBI form FD-1023. In 2020, allegations of corruption surrounding both Hunter and Joe Biden, and Ukraine/Burisma began to surface. Recall, Hunter Biden had been appointed to a Board seat on Burisma at between sixty and eighty thousand dollars a month, despite having no experience in energy.
Then AG William Barr ordered U.S. Attorney Scott Brady to look into the allegations, partially in conjunction with Weiss’ investigation of Hunter Biden. Brady asked Smirnov’s FBI handler to recontact Smirnov and review the reporting from 2017. This contact, in 2020, about previously reported events from 2015 – 2017, became the basis for the infamous FD-1023 that came into the possession of Congress through a whistleblower. And, according to the indictment of Smirnov, (https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24429120/240214-smirnov-indictment.pdf) it is the basis for the charge of lying to the FBI, (18 USC – Section 1001). I’m not saying it is a qualified defense, but a substantive criminal charge based on a phoned-in interview the government set in motion, seems like a potential perjury trap. You can be sure Smirnov’s lawyers will argue this at trial.
I expressed concern in my July article that the informant interview appeared to have been conducted by telephone. Not only was this true, the “interview” also included text messages between Smirnov and the handling agent that Weiss included in the indictment. Telephone calls and text messages are terrible techniques for interviewing a witness/informant about allegations concerning a then candidate for President, (or anyone else for that matter.) I speculated the reason for the telephone interview was the informant – Smirnov, was overseas. I was wrong there. According to the indictment, he was in California. I can tell you from experience, FBI agents fly around the country (and the world) on far less significant matters.
Lastly on the 2020 interview and accompanying FD-1023; I have seen analysis from several smart lawyers I trust on social media that the information Smirnov provided in 2020, reflecting on his 2017 reporting about events in 2015, may not be lies at all; That Weiss is misinterpreting dates and locations Smirnov was referring to in two different interviews, three years apart, which his lawyers will prove in court are not lies. Even giving Weiss the benefit of the doubt, and he can prove Smirnov was intentionally lying, this is incredibly weak beer to charge an informant with the federal felony of lying to the FBI. While all FBI informants are routinely admonished about telling the truth, many, if not most of them also routinely shade, embellish, puff, do the James Brown, pick your adjective - about the truth of their reporting. Dealing with fact vs. fiction is a standard part of an FBI agent’s job in handling informants.
The signal to current and potential FBI informants with a high-profile indictment like this is that shading the truth, or even outright lying to FBI agents will result in prosecution, is a death knell for even having an informant program. For many informants, it’s dangerous enough to cooperate with law enforcement and the Intel Community for a host of reasons. Worrying that a prosecutor who has made a number of bad politically-charged decisions in a case might well decide to indict you for, in his view, lying, is a bridge many of them are not willing to cross.
I will also note here that a stand-alone federal charge of 1001 is incredibly rare. The charge usually accompanies any number of more serious substantive offenses, or it’s offered as an inducement to plead guilty in lieu of more serious offenses. FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith plead guilty to a similar, (false documents) charge and received probation. George Papadopoulos of Russia Collusion fame pled guilty to a single 1001 count (he wished in retrospect he did not,) and got fourteen days confinement.
Recent, high-profile stand-alone 1001 cases that have gone down in flames include Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn – dismissed, (albeit at the request of DOJ,) and Michael Sussmann and Igor Danchenko, who were found not guilty. For all the risk/reward in destroying the FBI informant program by charging Smirnov with a crime he may not even get prison time for – the case against him is not a slam dunk.
...
Recall David Weiss was the U.S. Attorney in Delaware, appointed by President Trump, but acceptable to both state’s democrat U.S. Senators – that’s how U.S. Attorney appointments work. He was responsible for the investigation of President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, concerning allegations of tax fraud, weapons violations, and potentially, the Foreign Agents Registration Act. After allowing two of the most serious allegations regarding Hunter Biden to expire past the statute of limitations, (something an Assistant U.S. Attorney working for Weiss could be fired for,) he negotiated what many legal scholars described as a “Sweetheart Deal” where Hunter Biden would be charged with two misdemeanors and given immunity for any other federal violations he may have committed.
When a federal judge in Delaware saw through the deal and ordered it rewritten, Weiss complained he lacked authority outside Delaware, and was appointed Special Counsel status by AG Merrick Garland. (Against the DOJ appointment regulation because he was not from “outside” DOJ, but irrelevant for this discussion.) In late 2023, Hunter Biden was charged with gun and tax charges and has plead not guilty.
The Grand Jury Indictment
Now back to Alexander Smirnov, who had been an FBI informant since 2010. Up until last week he was described by the FBI as highly reliable, and his reporting, according to Weiss, was used in several criminal investigations. In 2017, he reported to his FBI handlers about corruption and other matters concerning public officials and businessmen relating to Ukraine. Much of this reporting went back as far as 2015. The information was memorialized on an FBI form FD-1023. In 2020, allegations of corruption surrounding both Hunter and Joe Biden, and Ukraine/Burisma began to surface. Recall, Hunter Biden had been appointed to a Board seat on Burisma at between sixty and eighty thousand dollars a month, despite having no experience in energy.
Then AG William Barr ordered U.S. Attorney Scott Brady to look into the allegations, partially in conjunction with Weiss’ investigation of Hunter Biden. Brady asked Smirnov’s FBI handler to recontact Smirnov and review the reporting from 2017. This contact, in 2020, about previously reported events from 2015 – 2017, became the basis for the infamous FD-1023 that came into the possession of Congress through a whistleblower. And, according to the indictment of Smirnov, (https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24429120/240214-smirnov-indictment.pdf) it is the basis for the charge of lying to the FBI, (18 USC – Section 1001). I’m not saying it is a qualified defense, but a substantive criminal charge based on a phoned-in interview the government set in motion, seems like a potential perjury trap. You can be sure Smirnov’s lawyers will argue this at trial.
I expressed concern in my July article that the informant interview appeared to have been conducted by telephone. Not only was this true, the “interview” also included text messages between Smirnov and the handling agent that Weiss included in the indictment. Telephone calls and text messages are terrible techniques for interviewing a witness/informant about allegations concerning a then candidate for President, (or anyone else for that matter.) I speculated the reason for the telephone interview was the informant – Smirnov, was overseas. I was wrong there. According to the indictment, he was in California. I can tell you from experience, FBI agents fly around the country (and the world) on far less significant matters.
Lastly on the 2020 interview and accompanying FD-1023; I have seen analysis from several smart lawyers I trust on social media that the information Smirnov provided in 2020, reflecting on his 2017 reporting about events in 2015, may not be lies at all; That Weiss is misinterpreting dates and locations Smirnov was referring to in two different interviews, three years apart, which his lawyers will prove in court are not lies. Even giving Weiss the benefit of the doubt, and he can prove Smirnov was intentionally lying, this is incredibly weak beer to charge an informant with the federal felony of lying to the FBI. While all FBI informants are routinely admonished about telling the truth, many, if not most of them also routinely shade, embellish, puff, do the James Brown, pick your adjective - about the truth of their reporting. Dealing with fact vs. fiction is a standard part of an FBI agent’s job in handling informants.
The signal to current and potential FBI informants with a high-profile indictment like this is that shading the truth, or even outright lying to FBI agents will result in prosecution, is a death knell for even having an informant program. For many informants, it’s dangerous enough to cooperate with law enforcement and the Intel Community for a host of reasons. Worrying that a prosecutor who has made a number of bad politically-charged decisions in a case might well decide to indict you for, in his view, lying, is a bridge many of them are not willing to cross.
I will also note here that a stand-alone federal charge of 1001 is incredibly rare. The charge usually accompanies any number of more serious substantive offenses, or it’s offered as an inducement to plead guilty in lieu of more serious offenses. FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith plead guilty to a similar, (false documents) charge and received probation. George Papadopoulos of Russia Collusion fame pled guilty to a single 1001 count (he wished in retrospect he did not,) and got fourteen days confinement.
Recent, high-profile stand-alone 1001 cases that have gone down in flames include Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn – dismissed, (albeit at the request of DOJ,) and Michael Sussmann and Igor Danchenko, who were found not guilty. For all the risk/reward in destroying the FBI informant program by charging Smirnov with a crime he may not even get prison time for – the case against him is not a slam dunk.
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