Special Counsel David Weiss asked District Judge Otis D. Wright to detain defendant Alexander Smirnov while he awaits trial after his indictment on February 15. Wright declined the request to put Smirnov back in jail until proven guilty in his upcoming court hearing.
Smirnov is a former FBI informant who has been a notable part of the impeachment inquiries against President Joe Biden. Smirnov previously alleged that President Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, received five million dollars each from Ukrainian company Burisma Holdings in bribes.
The indictment suggests that these allegations were false, and that Smirnov knowingly provided false information to the FBI, possibly sourced from Russian intelligence agents. This indictment doesn’t necessarily prove him guilty, as that is officially decided in court; the timelines presented by the prosecution, however, do bring Smirnov’s statements into question.
Surprisingly, though, the prosecution asked that Smirnov remain in custody until his court date. Generally, the U.S. justice system doesn’t hold suspects who haven’t been proven guilty unless they pose a serious danger to the public, or are considered a flight risk. Special Counsel Weiss proposed that he may be a flight risk.
The judge declined the request, instead opting for the simple measures of putting Smirnov under GPS tracking and revoking his passports temporarily. It was a smart decision, as keeping the informant in jail would likely raise questions about whether he was being deliberately silenced.
Will this destroy the impeachment inquiries against the president? It isn’t likely. While Democrats online seem to think the entire case will crumble, Smirnov’s testimony isn’t all that important; it wasn’t even available to the Oversight Committee when they began their inquiries.
Some Republicans think Smirnov’s testimony was correct, while others have already accepted that it’s false based on the indictment.
Alexander Smirnov is an FBI informant that was recently indicted by the Biden administration for feeding the fbi “false information” about the Biden’s corruption in Ukraine involving Burisma Holdings. This isn’t the first time that the Biden administration went after someone… pic.twitter.com/vI9yqMq9Eg
— Conservative News Feed (@C_N_F__on__X) February 16, 2024
At the end of the day, the American people have little to no information about the case, and aren’t able to judge for ourselves quite yet.
While the results may not be the strongest factor in the case for impeaching President Biden, both sides await the results eagerly. And for the moment at least, Smirnov is a relatively free man.
