Politization of FBI Leadership Destroys Public Agency Trust

We’ve been hearing two versions of important confidential FBI source information regarding evidence of the Biden family's foreign influence peddling; both can’t be true without seriously doubting the agency’s competence.

One story has it — as reported by FBI Director Christopher Wray to House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio — that Alexander Smirnov, who reported a conversation whereby the head of corrupt Ukrainian energy company Burisma claimed paying both former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden each $5 million, was entirely reliable.

As Rep. Comer recalled on the Maria Bartiromo’s Feb. 5 "Sunday Morning Futures" program, "All we knew about Smirnov was the 1023 [form] allegation. We knew from sources that the FBI had never investigated it, and all we knew was what Christopher Wray told us, that this informant was one of their most trusted and highest paid in the bureau, and he had been in that position for over 10 years, so that's all we knew about him."

Last May, Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, issued a subpoena demanding that Wray provide a copy of that 1023 form to members of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability along with accompanying attachments and documents, threatening to hold the FBI director in contempt if he refused.

The FBI declined to provide the document, arguing that it is bound by Justice Department policy, which “strictly limits when and how confidential human source information can be provided outside of the FBI.”

The contrasting FBI story is that Alexander Smirnov, previously heralded as one of the agency’s most trusted sources — someone they had paid large sums over 14 years — was arrested on Valentine’s Day upon arrival from overseas at the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, charged with making false claims regarding the Burisma Biden bribe accusations.

That Feb. 14 FBI arrest occurred just two days after Hunter Biden’s former business partner, Tony Bobulinski, had testified before the House Oversight Committee as part of the House impeachment inquiry that his father knew about and enabled foreign influence peddling deals involving Ukraine, China, Russia and other countries.

Following release on bail, Smirnov, a dual United States and Israeli citizen, was arrested a second time under the same charges on Feb. 22 as a flight risk.

In the latest recount iteration, prosecutors told investigators after his arrest that Smirnov had longstanding and extensive contacts with Russian spies, including individuals he said were high-level intelligence officers who wanted to promote false bribery accusations against the Bidens to influence the 2024 election.

In other words, as Democrats are quick to rejoin, there’s nothing to see here. Just another Russian disinformation ploy.

Forget, for example, the $1 billion Ukraine loan guarantee that then-V.P. Biden threatened to withhold unless the government fired Viktor Shokin, the prosecutor charged with investigating corruption charges against Burisma which was paying Hunter a million-dollar salary as a no-show board member.

We’re also asked to ignore bank records showing that the Biden family and their business associates received over $10 million from foreign nationals’ and their related companies when Joe served as vice president.

Regarding claims of Russian interference with U.S. elections, perhaps recall that the FBI sat on demons hiding in Hunter’s laptop from hell for nearly a year throughout the 2020 campaign season, while 51 intel officials — FBI included — falsely and famously dismissed it as having earmarks of Russian disinformation.

Besides, as Rep. Jim Jordan observed on Bartiromo’s Sunday interview, if false claims are to be prosecuted, why wasn’t ex-British spy Christopher Steele ever indicted for entirely making up the Trump Russia collusion charges the Hillary Clinton campaign used in 2016, including the fictitious Moscow hotel tape?

Recall also that no charges were filed against Peter Strozk who led the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation against the 2016 Trump campaign and the agency’s lead attorney on the matter over text messages indicating their true mission.

Strzok had referred to Donald Trump in a text as “a f***ing idiot.” And when Page worried about Trump winning, Strzok wrote to her, “No, he won’t. We’ll stop it.”

Both retired with pensions and got great new jobs: Page as an MSNBC analyst, and Strzok as a counterintelligence instructor at Georgetown University.

That FBI espionage on Trump which began before he was elected then continued with tacit approval by the Obama White House after he was sworn into office.

In their FISA court spying filings, the agency omitted known facts that the dossier information used in 2017 to conduct surveillance on Trump campaign aid Carter Page was bogus.

Kevin Clinesmith, a low-level FBI lawyer, copped a guilty plea of altering evidence in exchange for skating on serious federal prison time.

The FBI’s Aug. 8 armed pre-dawn raid on former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence— including Melania’s wardroom closet — for classified documents, stood in stark contrast to lack of concern regarding those found in Joe’s residence and unsecure garage.

Whereas the FBI was fully aware that Trump Russia collusion charges cooked up by Hillary to deflect attention away from her 33,000 illegally deleted email “problem” were “not technically plausible,” they nevertheless allowed him to be continually hounded by these false allegations throughout his presidency.

So let’s assume that trusted FBI informant Alexander Smirnov truly is a Russian double agent trying to fix the election.

Can you possibly imagine anyone they would rather throw it to than Vladimir Putin’s declared preference, “predictable” Joe Biden?