Republicans leading the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden say they will push forward despite the arrest of former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov.
"There are over 30 million reasons to continue our impeachment inquiry of President Biden," House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., told the Washington Examiner on Thursday. "Bank records don't lie, and reveal $30 million in payments to the Bidens from Russia, China, Romania, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Democrat donors."
The inquiry is being led by Comer, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo.
Sources said they plan to continue with interviews, gathering documents, and releasing a final report about their findings, despite the Smirnov arrest and a claim from one top Democrat, Oversight Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who told reporters this week that the inquiry is losing steam.
"It feels to me as if everyone knows the impeachment investigation is over," Raskin said midway through the testimony this week from Biden's younger brother, James Biden.
"According to witness testimony, Joe Biden knew about and participated in his family's business schemes, and he has repeatedly lied to the American people about these facts," Comer said. "The American people demand the truth and accountability for any wrongdoing. We will continue to follow the facts to propose legislation to reform federal ethics laws and to determine whether articles of impeachment are warranted."
Democrats, as well as the media, strongly criticized Comer and Jordan this week for their focus on Smirnov's claims made in 2020 about the Biden family after the Department of Justice accused him of lying.
Smirnov was identified only as a confidential FBI source before his arrest last week and had accused Joe Biden and Hunter Biden, based on an FBI 1023 form, of having accepted multimillion-dollar bribes in Ukraine. Comer and Jordan called Smirnov's claims "crucial' to the impeachment inquiry, even though they had not been proven.
Comer told Newsmax on Thursday that Smirnov is a "micropiece" of the investigation.
Jordan released a transcript from an interview he held with former U.S. Attorney Scott Brady, the person who vetted 1023 form, and said he thought it was credible but also that now-special counsel David Weiss, who is prosecuting Smirnov, should review it.
Meanwhile, the committees still have several witnesses to testify, including Hunter Biden, who will appear for a closed-door deposition on Feb. 28. Special counsel Robert Hur will testify on March 12 in a public hearing about his findings on Joe Biden and the handling of classified materials.