Prosecutors say ex-FBI informant charged over false Hunter Biden reports claimed he got information from Russian intelligence
Alexander Smirnov, who is charged with lying to the FBI about Joe Biden, Hunter Biden and Burisma, is set to appear at a detention hearing in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
LAS VEGAS — A former FBI informant who allegedly fed the bureau false information about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign said that some of the information he spread came from “officials associated with Russian intelligence,” prosecutors said in a filing Tuesday.
Alexander Smirnov, a 43-year-old who had been working as a confidential human source for the FBI since 2010, was ordered released under conditions after a detention hearing in a federal courtroom in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.Drew Angerer / Getty Images fileProsecutors said in their filing Tuesday that Smirnov “is actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials in November.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel J. Albregts found that the government failed to make its case that Smirnov had to be detained until trial, and ordered him released under conditions that included GPS monitoring.
Smirnov was arrested last week in Las Vegas after returning on an international flight and is facing two counts in connection with lies he allegedly told his FBI handler. His defense attorneys say he is an American citizen who also holds an Israeli passport, which Albregts ordered him to surrender.
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