The FBI: Still Playing Politics

Alexander Smirnov was "highly credible" until he crossed Joe Biden

FBI Director Christopher Wray: He’s got a lot of ‘splaining to do

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Democrats and progressives were of course delighted when the confidential source alleging that Joe Biden and his son Hunter had taken $10 million in bribe money from a Ukrainian oligarch was indicted by a federal grand jury for making false statements to federal authorities. Ha! Ha! Ha! they chortled. Those MAGA idiots in Congress have egg all over their face! Joe and Hunter are completely exonerated Ha! Ha! Ha!

Um, not exactly.

For one thing, the bribe allegation, true or false, does not touch on the mountain of evidence that James Comer’s House Oversight Committee has compiled in the course of its investigation. For instance, the notorious Hunter Biden laptop hasn’t suddenly been found to be “Russian disinformation” after all. And it’s still the case that the President lied back in 2020 when he swore to the American people that he knew nothing at all—zip, zero, zilch—about his son’s business affairs. No, there’s plenty of evidence on the record to show that the Biden family traded on the Joe Biden’s name to rake in mounds of cash from questionable sources.

Then there’s the interesting fact, not mentioned by the progressive commentariat, that the confidential informant, one Alexander Smirnov, was not some snitch who sidled up to Representative Comer with his tall tale of Biden bribery. No, he was an FBI confidential human source (CHS) of long standing, whom the Bureau rated as “highly credible.” Comer and his committee were assured by the FBI that Smirnov was the real deal. Indeed, the Bureau went farther, strenuously resisting Comer’s efforts to secure their man’s testimony, citing the usual concerns about sources and methods, jeopardy to ongoing investigations, etc.

In June 2020, Smirnov’s allegations against the Bidens were documented by the FBI in a Form FD-1023. Only after a long and acrimonious argument was the House Oversight Committee able to get the document approved for public release last summer. And only then did the FBI suddenly discover that its “highly credible” CHS of fourteen years’ standing wasn’t so credible after all. What a coincidence!

Representative Comer and his Republican colleagues are understandably aggrieved by all this. They say they relied on the FBI’s positive assessment of Smirnov’s credibility in evaluating the information he’d provided. Now suddenly the guy’s a liar! They set forth their concerns in a five-page letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, signed by Comer and Representative Jim Jordan, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee:

On February 14, 2024, Special Counsel David Weiss indicted Alexander Smirnov—a longtime confidential human source (CHS) for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)—on allegations of making false statements to federal authorities. Prior to the indictment, the FBI allowed Mr. Smirnov to serve as a CHS for over 14 years and earn a six-figure income, while maintaining “extensive and extremely recent” foreign intelligence contacts. Until very recently, the FBI held Mr. Smirnov out as a “highly credible” source whose outing could endanger national security. Only after Mr. Smirnov reported that President Joe Biden accepted a bribe from a Ukrainian energy company in exchange for using his official position to oust the Ukrainian Prosecutor General did the FBI apparently take a hard look at this CHS. The Judiciary Committee has been examining the FBI’s CHS program in the wake of recent high-profile blunders, but this new information raises even greater concerns about abuse and mismanagement in the FBI’s CHS program.

The letter goes on to note that at every stage of its investigation, the FBI assured the Committee that Smirnov was highly credible and that disclosure of information about him could jeopardize national security and degrade the Bureau’s mission to “keep Americans safe.” Wray told Comer & Co. that outing their CHS would not only compromise several ongoing investigations but endanger Smirnov’s life. It concludes with the observation that the whole debacle is one more illustration of the FBI’s meddling in politics, and a request that the FBI produce all documents relating to the case.

It's difficult indeed to dismiss the allegation that the FBI has fallen into the habit of playing politics with its law-enforcement authority. In the Obama years, complaints began to be heard that the FBI and other federal agencies like the IRS were being deployed against the political opposition. Then in 2016, the Democrats got a taste of their own medicine: They were outraged over the behavior of then-FBI Director Jim Comey, who as they believe torpedoed Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign by his handling of her classified information scandal. And once Trump became president, Comey went to work on him, playing a prominent role in the fake Russian collusion case. The FBI’s questionable handling of the Smirnov affair suggests that not much has changed since Biden became president.

Democrats and progressives affect to wring their hands over the public’s collapse of faith in government. And of course, they blame it on Trump and MAGA—who, they allege, peddle false narratives of official corruption and malfeasance. But the tale related here is no false narrative, and it raises disturbing questions about the integrity of federal law enforcement. Chanting MEGA-MOOGA-MAGA! and ORANGE MAN EVIL! provides no satisfactory answers to those questions.