The prosecutors said in a court paper on Tuesday that a former FBI informer had accused the President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and a multimilian-dollar bribery plans associated with a Ukrainian energy company.
The prosecutors revealed the alleged contact as they urged a judge to place Alexander Smirnov behind bars while he was waiting for the test. He alleged his handler of incorrectly telling that with Ukrainian energy company Burisma, officials paid $ 5 million to Hunter and Joe Biden around 2015. This claim became central to investigate the Republican impeachment in the Congress.
US Magistrate Judge Daniel Albregates allowed Smirnov to be released from custody on electronic GPS surveillance while he was waiting for the test. He should live in Clarke County, Nevada, and is banned from applying for a new passport.
The prosecutors said that 43 -year -old Smirnov admitted during an interview after his arrest last week that “Russian intelligence officials were involved in passing a story” about Hunter Biden “. He said that Smirnov’s contacts with Russian officials were recently wide, and Smirnov had planned to meet with an official during the upcoming foreign trip.
Hunter Biden on Wednesday recorded a surprising presence on Capital Hill, briefly sat in a house committee hearing on a proposal to catch him in contempt of Congress.
Smirnov Las has been detained in a facility in the rural Pahramp on a drive of about an hour to the west of the Las Vegas, as the arrest was made at the airport last week, while returning from abroad.
Defense lawyers David Chesanoff and Richard Shonfeld said in a statement that he asked for Smirnov’s release, while he waits for the test “so he could effectively fight the power of the government.”
The White House did not immediately comment on claims in Tuesday’s court.
Prosecutors say that Smirnov, who holds citizenship of dual US-Israel, denied the FBI in June 2020 that officials associated with Ukrainian energy company Burima paid each $ 5 million to Hunter and Joe Biden in 2015 or 2016.
Prosecutors said in court documents that in fact Smirnov only regularly behaved with the company starting in 2017 and accused of bribe after “bias” against Biden. He is accused of making a wrong statement and creating a false and fictional records. The allegations were filed in Los Angeles, where he lived for 16 years before transferred to Las Vegas two years ago.
Smirnov’s claims have been central for the Republican effort in the Congress to investigate the President and his family, and now a House in Biden has helped spark the investigation of impeachment. The Democrats called for the end of the investigation after the reduction in the prosecution last week, while the Republican removed the investigation from Smirnov’s claims and said that they would continue to “follow the facts”.
Hunter Biden is expected to make a statement next week.
The Burima accusations became a flashpoint in the Congress as chasing the investigation of Republican President Biden and his family demanded the release of an unpublished form of documenting the allegations. He admitted that if the allegations were correct, they could not confirm.
,
Whiteharst reported from Washington. Associated press writer Alana Durkin Amir contributed to this report in Boston.