Who is ex-FBI informant Alexander Smirnov? The source alleged to have lied about Joe and Hunter Biden

WASHINGTON – Justice Department special counsel David Weiss indicted an ex-FBI informant on Thursday evening for allegedly lying about President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden’s involvement with Burisma, a Ukrainian energy firm.

Alexander Smirnov, 43, was arrested on Wednesday at the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas after a federal grand jury in California returned the indictment. His arrest and charges was a major setback for House Republicans’ ongoing impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, as GOP investigators have touted Smirnov’s claims for months.

Here’s what to know about Alexander Smirnov and his allegations.

Who is Alexander Smirnov

Smirnov was charged with two counts: making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record for information he gave to the FBI. Smirnov was previously only known as a confidential human source up until his indictment was announced.

His claims were recorded by the FBI in a form known as an FD-1023, which investigators use to record information from confidential sources.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa., obtained the document and shared it with House Republicans last year. Smirnov was repeatedly touted by lawmakers who criticized Biden as a credible source.

What did he allege about Joe and Hunter Biden?

Smirnov’s allegations surround Republicans’ accusations that Joe Biden, during his tenure as vice president, ousted a top Ukrainian prosecutor to protect his son, who was then serving on the board of Burisma.

Ukrainian executives of Burisma, Smirnov claimed, told him in 2015 and 2016 that Hunter Biden was brought on to the board “to protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems.”

Those executives also told Smirnov, he claimed, that they paid $5 million each to Joe and Hunter Biden to “take care of all those issues through his dad.”

But according to the indictment, Smirnov was only in contact with those executives at the end of the Obama-Biden administration in 2017 and only after the prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, was fired.

Shokin’s ouster was also motivated not because he was investigating Burisma, but because U.S. and European officials and diplomats pushed for his removal since he was not pursuing corruption cases against corrupt politicians.

Does this affect the House GOP’s impeachment inquiry?

The indictment is certainly a blow to Republicans’ investigation into Joe Biden over allegations the president was improperly involved in his son’s foreign business dealings. But the inquiry is broad in scope and Republicans promised to push forward with their investigation.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chair of the House Oversight Committee, who is one of the lawmakers leading the probe, said in a statement the inquiry is “not reliant” on Shokin’s FD-1023 form and is instead “based on a large record of evidence.”

House Republicans have yet to produce evidence directly tying the president to his son’s foreign business ventures.

Comer in his statement questioned why the FBI did verify the veracity of Shokin’s claims, noting it “had this form for years and it appears they did nothing to verify the troubling claims contained within the record until Congress became aware of and demanded access to them.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who is Alexander Smirnov? What to know about the ex-FBI informant