Alexander Smirnov Shared an Already-Debunked Fox News Hoax with His FBI Handler

There’s a mistake that many people covering the Alexander Smirnov case make. This is one example, but similar examples appear everywhere (including in claims made by Democrats in Congress yesterday).

Parnas noted the recent indictment of former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, who is accused of providing false intelligence about the president and his son during the 2020 presidential campaign. Prosecutors said the information Smirnov shared about the Bidens came from “officials associated with Russian intelligence” and that he was peddling “new lies that impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials in November.”

The error is in claiming that prosecutors have said that the false claims Smirnov made in 2020 came from Russian intelligence.

Prosecutors have said that Smirnov attributed claims made last September in his FBI interview to Russian spies. That’s the claim that the Russians recorded calls that Hunter Biden made from a hotel in Kyiv.

51. The Defendant also shared a new story with investigators. He wanted them to look into whether Businessperson 1 was recorded in a hotel in Kiev called the Premier Palace. The Defendant told investigators that the entire Premier Palace Hotel is “wired” and under the control of the Russians. The Defendant claimed that Businessperson 1 went to the hotel many times and that he had seen video footage of Businessperson 1 entering the Premier Palace Hotel.

52. The Defendant suggested that investigators check to see if Businessperson 1 made telephone calls from the Premier Palace Hotel since those calls would have been recorded by the Russians. The Defendant claimed to have obtained this information a month earlier by calling a high-level official in a foreign country. The Defendant also claimed to have learned this information from four different Russian officials. [my emphasis]

The reference in the detention memo to Russian spooks, relied on by NBC to substantiate the claim, appears to be a reference to this story, one Smirnov told in 2023. David Weiss appears to be sure that Russian spooks really did tell Smirnov this; he used it to justify detention.

Thus, Smirnov’s efforts to spread misinformation about a candidate of one of the two
major parties in the United States continues. The Court should consider this conduct as well
when evaluating his personal history and characteristics. What this shows is that the
misinformation he is spreading is not confined to 2020. He is actively peddling new lies that
could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials in November.

I’m not entirely convinced Smirnov’s Russian spook buddies did tell him this.

After all, prosecutors laid out why it cannot be true that Russia really got recordings of Hunter in the hotel. Hunter has never been to Kyiv, much less this hotel.

If Russian spies actually told Smirnov this, it would either be false, intended to deceive Smirnov, or based on a deep fake.

But I also think it’s possible that, during the September interview, Smirnov started to realize that the FBI had caught him lying, and so invented the story — based on what I understand to be a widely-understood assumption about the Premier Palace — to appear to be useful to the FBI. When you’re a snitch, you’re generally safe doing whatever so long as you remain useful. So Smirnov may have just tried to protect himself by inventing something useful.

As I tried to show here, there’s actually some reason to believe he subsequently created a reporting trail retroactively on this, as if he hadn’t ever made this claim to his handler before his FBI interview and so had to report it prospectively to the handler to cover the claim he made to the FBI. The timeline shows that Smirnov attributed something to four Russian spies in September 2023, but then told his handler he learned it as if it were new in December 2023.

I don’t believe any court filings have yet attributed Smirnov’s false claim in 2020 to Russian spooks.

Indeed, he didn’t have the ties to Russian spies in 2020 he claims to have now. While Smirnov appears to have had ties to Russian Official 5 in 2020 — the guy he flipped for a different, probably Israeli, intelligence service in 2002 but didn’t tell his handler about until 2019 — and through him, Russian Official 6, many of his more senior ties to Russian spooks appear to post-date 2020.

A far more relevant tie in 2020 is his professed tie to Viktor Shokin, going back to 2016.

50. The Defendant told investigators that he had asked the then-Ukrainian President to arrange a meeting between himself and the then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General to talk about Burisma. The Defendant told investigators that this meeting occurred before the then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General resigned, which was early 2016. The Defendant also told investigators this meeting occurred before his meeting with Burisma Official 1 in the coffee shop in a German speaking country. The Defendant told investigators that after he met with the thenUkrainian Prosecutor General, he met with the then-Ukrainian President. The Defendant did not provide any of this information to the Handler in 2020.

Still, one way or another, I don’t believe any court filing tells us who got Smirnov to lie in 2020. It’s one reason I keep insisting that learning how Scott Brady came to look for him may be the most important investigative question, not least because David Weiss has an enormous disincentive to chase that down.

All the more so given the backstory to this photo, which appears in the indictment. After Smirnov promised his handler that he would prove Joe Biden had received a bribe, Smirnov told his handler this picture showed Joe and Hunter Biden with Mykola Zlochevsky.

 

Nancy Mace used the same photo in yesterday’s hearing in an attempt to corroborate serial fraudster Jason Galanis‘ story.

It’s actually not, at all, clear where the picture came from — I’m not even aware that it came from “the laptop.”

But it was first published by Tucker Carlson, then adopted by Fox News, as part of Rudy’s propaganda campaign in 2019, as impeachment began to roll out.

Don Jr posted it.

Then Trump referenced it on Xitter.

The claim was debunked repeatedly: by PolitiFact on October 8, by CNN, and then by USAT after it went even more viral after the release of “the laptop” in 2020 (and therefore after Smirnov’s claims).

And yet, even though this photo had gone viral in 2019, in conjunction with Trump’s impeachment rebuttal, Smirnov made the same claim again in May 2020.

And his handler either didn’t realize or didn’t care that Smirnov was recycling a widely debunked lie, nor is there any evidence the handler pointed out to Scott Brady that it discredited Smirnov’s other claims.

Sedition Hunters will tell you that the FBI is nowhere near as good at using facial recognition as they are (which may not be a bad thing). But the notion that an informant would share such a widely disseminated photo and no one at the FBI would figure out it had been used by Trump and his backers as part of a false propaganda campaign the year before?!?!

Really???

I’ll repeat again: the investigation into this attempt to frame Joe Biden needs to be removed from David Weiss’ purview and put in the hands of someone who’ll review how the FBI let itself get fooled by a widely disseminated piece of propaganda, and why the Attorney General ensured that such embarrassing propaganda got funneled to an ongoing investigation into Joe Biden’s kid.

Because this is just embarrassing.

Alexander Smirnov may have gotten the false claim he made in 2020 from Russian spies. He may have gotten it from Viktor Shokin.

Or maybe he just got it by watching Fox News.

Update: Noted that the USAT rebuttal came after Smirnov’s claims; the others came before.

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72 replies
  1. BobBobCon says:

    FYI I think there’s a typo in the sentence beginning “I tried to show here, there’s actually some reason to believe he subsequently created a reporting…”

    The stupid thing about the photo is that’s not just about facial recognition, it’s about even doing a simple text search on the people and subject. By the time Smirnov made the claim, a basic Google search would have quickly yielded the media’s debunking.

  2. klynn says:

    “I’ll repeat again: the investigation into this attempt to frame Joe Biden needs to be removed from David Weiss’ purview and put in the hands of someone who’ll review how the FBI let itself get fooled by a widely disseminated piece of propaganda, and why the Attorney General ensured that such embarrassing propaganda got funneled to an ongoing investigation into Joe Biden’s kid.

    Because this is just embarrassing.”

    Yes to all the above! And…SMH!

    You and Nicole will need to make Friday a 2 hour show!

  3. Rugger_9 says:

    All this really does is to provide ammunition for Lowell to blow apart the evidence in the pretrial motion hearings. EW has noted before there are actual issues that could be raised, but SC Weiss’ apparent pathological need to use easily debunked information from dubious sources makes it clear that Defendant-1 and his minions on the Comer Clown Committee are micromanaging the case. It will go as well as the other cases Defendant-1 has been involved in.

  4. David Brooks says:

    I think I read some time (maybe here) that it’s possible Russian Official 5 may have been playing Smirnov in 2002, which is how the then young man got hooked by Russian intelligence in the first place. Is there any reason to suggest this other than “could have happened”?

    • GeeSizzle says:

      Joe’s left hand appears to actually be Hunter’s right hand, with Joe’s left arm behind Hunter’s back. That said, I also thought his hands looked off when I first viewed this.

      • Savage Librarian says:

        I’m more curious about the shadow cast by the 4 men. Is that what it really should look like? Seems wrong.

        • ExRacerX says:

          To me, that looks like a legit shadow from shortly before or after “Solar Noon.” The sun is high in the sky and slightly behind them (note dark spots on shirts & faces), but not far enough to obscure the shadows cast by their extended clubs.

        • Ithaqua0 says:

          The shadow cast by Hunter’s golf club definitely seems off, although the head is positioned differently, too. I just (11:20 AM) tried an experiment out back, and the angle of the shadow only changes a little, even with gross repositioning of the club, so it seems wrong to me, but it is hardly a definitive experiment.

        • ExRacerX says:

          Perspective-wise, it’s worth pointing out that Hunter’s club is significantly further from the camera than the others.

        • Ithaqua0 says:

          True, the head is, but the hand holding it is not. I tried to duplicate that but was unable to get the angle of the shadow to change much, but that could be something else, like where the sun was in the sky, as well.

        • ExRacerX says:

          “True, the head is, but the hand holding it is not.”

          Exactly. The combination of those 2 factors is the reason the angle of Hunter’s club’s shadow is markedly different from the others.

        • Savage Librarian says:

          Oops. Didn’t mean to hijack a thread. I’m no artist, photographer or scientist. On second thought, I think the shadow is fine. It’s just something that caught my eye.

    • ExRacerX says:

      Pretty sure that’s Hunter’s hand. *EDIT: I was posting this while GeeSizzle’s post went up.

      Anyway, very interesting how the “Mykola Zlochevsky” in this photo has lots of hair and has lost his distinctive Charlie Brown head shape.

      • wetzel-rhymes-with says:

        That guy on the right is not Ukrainian or Russian because he’s got the contentment of a corn-fed American college graduated super stud who was born into money. He and Hunter are both imprinted with this aura from their life on the nipple of fat city that only follows American fail-sons who still manage to be alright. Look at him. It takes two generations for a Ukrainian or Russian to ever feel that comfortable. You can just tell by the pixels that guy is an American without going to Politofact, but he his! He’s Hunter’s friend on the board. The other guy is the golf club boss. And a US Congresswoman was holding up the picture yesterday in open committee. Whaddayagonna do? All their system needs is something for Fox to show so they can pretend they covered “The News”. I think the Russian spy thing may give a way to penetrate the propaganda. I thought the Dem committee members were pretty beautiful yesterday. Even if they don’t know everything, they seem to be catching on pretty well.

    • ShallMustMay08 says:

      From this link it refers to a xitter post from Oct 02, 2019. I wonder why this hasn’t shown up before if it was taken from “the laptop” other than no one tracking it back to some sub-reddit accounts. Which may coincide with the idea that FBI can’t look themselves while the Sedition Hunter crew beg for follow up (while likely being worn down).
      “The clip was paired with a picture of Democratic rival Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, golfing with Ukraine energy executives. The origin of the video is unclear, but Trump’s aides have previously shared clips found on pro-Trump sub-reddit accounts.”

      ”However, shortly after the video was posted it was removed from Twitter, likely due to a violation of copyright law.”

      • ShallMustMay08 says:

        Ok there was a post on threads yesterday from Heidi Przybyla that caught my eye b/c I did not recall this Maxey guy (from Kav hearings) and followed her link to the Guardian article on 04/28/23 which this is from. Still doesn’t explain the origin of the pic (if real) and why just now. (The Hungary daily news had a story the same day.)

        “Maxey, a Republican activist, has gained prominence in conservative circles for his role in sharing a portable hard drive of data from Hunter Biden’s laptop with members of the media, including the Washington Post. When he was reached by the Guardian, Maxey said he was in Europe and claimed he had “just” given the hard drive to Viktor Orbán’s government in Hungary…
        “Maxey has said he obtained the hard drive from Rudy Giuliani. He previously worked as a researcher for Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast but the two have since had a falling out.”

      • Shadowalker says:

        Whoever did it doesn’t have a basic understanding of human anatomy. It looks like the President has two right hands or his left hand has the thumb opposite of where it should be. Plus the angle is all wrong in relation to the forearm and wrist.

    • wetzel-rhymes-with says:

      I know this is the Arts section, but The Independent really should have a correction along with this story by now. It spreads this propaganda:

      “The clip was paired with a picture of Democratic rival Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, golfing with Ukraine energy executives. The origin of the video is unclear, but Trump’s aides have previously shared clips found on pro-Trump sub-reddit accounts.”

      Independent, that is a fellow American Burisma board member of Hunter’s, not a Burisma executive. The fourth person is the head of the golf club.

  5. Capemaydave says:

    A tenacious search for truth is needed here.

    “Russia, Russia, Russia” is a deflection away from US sources of disinfo.

    Climate change legislation was defeated by ExxonMobil n Koch Brothers efforts.

    Their M.O. is clear.

    They have expressed intent to stall all climate change legislation, inter alia.

    Keep digging Marcy.

    • earlofhuntingdon says:

      A tad dismissive of both Marcy and Russia’s contribution to disinformation. Domestic industries are not the only ones that engage in it; increasing profits and derailing regulations are not its only purposes.

      • Capemaydave says:

        Dismissive?

        Not my intent.

        My aim was to suggest that, yes, Russia/China/Isreal played that game…US interest are at least equally likely to influence elections.

        Regardless, follow the facts where they lead.

    • wetzel-rhymes-with says:

      For my part, I think there are a half dozen autocratic power centers from China and Iran to the Gulf Kingdoms and the Dominionist Christians here in tandem with the corporate oligarchy in the United States which after Citizens United has institutionalized political operations through Koch and their associates. However, I think the most advanced thinking in terms of the long-term stability of autocratic rule has come from Putin’s Russia, and they have brought China and the rest to understand the soft power of of the United States is a mortal threat to their regimes. I believe the strategic interest of Russia and China is to make the United States autocratic. These interests align with those of Dominionist Christianity which lets American fascist rituals such as Trump rallies blend into primitive religious ritual or revival, and the Russian and Chinese interests also align with the Gulf and the Koch’s who’s wealth all depends on the oil in the ground being pumped eventually, all of it. We talk about solving the environmental crisis, but I’ve never heard of Exxon’s valuation decreasing because anyone thinks all of the oil isn’t going to be pumped. This overlaps with the Dominionist Christians who like the idea of the end of the world, I think.

  6. Tburgler says:

    Thanks for making this issue clear, or at least as clear as it can be at this point. Phillip Bump blocked me on Bluesky for for asserting that the 2020 allegations were from Russia and linking to articles that said as much. He likely thought I was sealioning when I was actually just confused.

    But then, he said it was “demonstrably untrue,” which is also not quite right.

    Oh well

  7. Old Rapier says:

    The FBI-Smirnov story makes more sense if instead of saying the FBI was using Smirnov as an informant it was using Smirnov as an agent to help the Trumpist-Russia channels. In either case it’s a wonder he was indicted at all. If in the first case as informant, why now? In the case of the agent, why ever? Of course the DOJ indicts. To run right up to the irresponsible, I’m guessing 70% of the FBI is MAGA centric. The DOJ not nearly so much.

  8. DaveC2022 says:

    What still mystifies my is why David Weiss indicted Smirnov? The only thing I can think of is that some other FBI investigation was pulling in Smirnov.

  9. matt fischer says:

    I wish people would stop with the conjecture that the photo is fake. It is most likely legit. More important questions are: How did the photo became public?; Why was the FBI so credulous with Smirnov?

    In any case, Tucker/Fox, Don Jr. and The Independent simply conflated a board member with an “exec.” That seems to me like your everyday MAGA sleight of hand.

    Yet both Trump and then Smirnov went further, using the titles “boss” and “CEO” respectively. By your logic, Marcy, Smirnov may have gotten the notion straight from Trump’s Xitter account.

    • Shadowalker says:

      The photo is an obvious fake. It is likely a poorly done composite job, with Joe’s image inserted in between the two on the left and the man on on the right. Or it’s possible the man on the end was added, and they added the fourth shadow wrong, and since we don’t have two suns, the angle is at an impossible angle.

        • Shadowalker says:

          This is not conjecture. It’s physics. Light travels in straight lines (unless it bends around a gravity well), in order to have the fourth shadow at such an oblique angle requires a different light source, while also negating the sun’s effect. The picture literally screams fake.

        • matt fischer says:

          Perhaps the point you were trying to make is that the Sun’s rays, as they enter the Earth’s atmosphere, are effectively parallel due to the Earth’s great distance from the Sun, and that shadows are a product of that phenomenon.

          But, in spite of your conviction, it is far from obvious that this is a fake (E.g. please see ExRacerX’s comment at 2:36 pm above regarding the “fourth shadow,” and JPJ’s comment below).

        • Bugboy321 says:

          I agree with matt fischer: please stop. This is reminding me of all the amateur sleuths micro-analysing kerning in the Killian documents controversy. Please stop.

      • John Paul Jones says:

        Draw a line from Archer’s hand to his shadow hand; then simply move the line until it is over the next guy’s hand; the slope will match; and to Biden pere’s hand; and then to Biden fils’ hand; the slope will match. There’s no faking going on. Some hands are out ahead of others, but if the slope matches, the sun angle is consistent so it’s most likely not a fake.

        As well, the colour space seems consistent across all four figures. When you patch new material into an existing shot, the colours and contrast very often don’t quite match (not to mention the pixel density). In this shot the lighting, colour and contrast on all four faces seems consistent, meaning, they were all there on the day, same bat-time, same bat-channel.

    • wetzel-rhymes-with says:

      I don’t think the photo is fake. The narrative constructed for the photo is fake. They are both Americans. Neither is Ukrainian. Neither is a Burisma executive let alone the “Burisma CEO”. One works at the golf club. The other is Devon Archer, Hunter’s long-time business associate, apparently, who also swung a plum Burisma board assignment, so maybe one got the other one in originally. I don’t know if they entered the Burisma Board of Directors at the same time. Apparently he just refused to testify in the impeachment inquiry, though he is a witness, apparently, to about twenty times Hunter would call his dad and his dad would let him put him on speaker phone and show off and Hunter got to play the big-shot. As far as the photo goes, though, there is no Burisma executive here, let alone the CEO, so the point with it, unless I am misunderstanding, is that the way it has been represented in the media and still by GOP politicians is a knowing fabrication. Because he’s on the Burisma board, it creates just enough of a problem to explain how it is that everyone is talking about it wrongly that the media is powerless. They know nobody cares about the truth enough to go into these boring details for thirty seconds of time they could be selling laundry detergent, but this is Hunter’s American friend and long-time partner Devon Archer and a guy who works at a golf club.

    • zscoreUSA says:

      So, Zlochevsky is (was?) actually not the CEO of Burisma.

      The CEO was Taras Burdeinyi. Zlochevsky is the owner and President of Burisma, which is how Hunter identifies him in Beautiful Things.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burisma

      Smirnov’s text refers to CEO. If he is referring to Zlochevsky, it doesn’t appear to be accurate.

      More recent articles refer to Zlochevsky as CEO of Burisma, so I don’t know if Zlochevsky later became the CEO of Burisma. There are many examples, but here is a July 10, 2023, Fox News article referring to Zlochevsky as CEO.
      https://www.foxnews.com/politics/grassley-releases-unclassified-fbi-form-containing-details-of-biden-criminal-bribery-scheme-with-burisma-ceo

      The Tucker/Fox headline referring to a “Ukraine gas company exec” seems misleading, like its designed to get people to believe something about Zlochevsky. But its referring to Devon Archer a board member. (Is it normal for board members to be considered an “exec”?)

      It may be worth researching further the origin of referring to Zlochevsky as CEO. And roughly 11/19/19 to 11/21/19, there are referrals to the head of Burisma being indicted and a hashtag #BurismaIndictment going around. Here is one such article, which cites Tass and something called Zero Hedge.
      https://web.archive.org/web/20191121162926/https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/11/indictment-against-head-of-burisma-reveals-hunter-biden-was-receiving-payments-from-money-raised-through-criminal-means-siphoned-laundered-from-ukraine/

      • wetzel-rhymes-with says:

        No, board member is not an executive position. They know that. The truth doesn’t matter when it’s hard to explain. That’s been the case for the GOP for as long as I can remember. Now they’re just ridiculous about it. On their side the ones who know the liar is lying respect the game and know they will say anything. How this spirit permeates GOP communications on any and all things now seems different. Shameless and compromised is part of their candidate recruitment.

      • earlofhuntingdon says:

        Early, mid-twentieth century wealthy English-Canadian press baron, Lord Beaverbrook, owned scores of companies. He refused board seats and executive positions on most or all of them. His refrain was why bother with the hassle, when you can exert all the control you want by controlling the shares? All he needed to do was hire people who realized that.

      • matt fischer says:

        The owner/CEO confusion is compounded by David Weiss, who, at on point in the Smirnov indictment, refers to Zlochevsky (a.k.a. Burisma Official 1) as “Burisma’s CEO and Founder.”

        But the indictment says that Smirnov understood Zlochevsky to be “CEO or owner.”:

        Also on the call was [Burisma Official 1], whom CHS understood is the “CEO or owner” of Burisma Holdings – Ukraine.

  10. zscoreUSA says:

    What time zone is the 9:42 am (and other text messages from Smirnov)? Pacific due to location of filing? Pacific due to local time as of texts being sent?

  11. freebird says:

    Frankly, Smirnov is a psychopath with the ability to manipulate people who desired to be manipulated. He is like the Kevin Spacey character in the movie the “The Usual Suspects” where the fictional character Keyser Soze was believed by the interrogator.

    This picture is like a Rorschach test where people make up a story for an assessment of their psychological makeup and intelligence. The Republicans sound like three-year olds when asked to describe what is in the picture.

    What I cannot figure out, if Smirnov is to be believed, is why Zlochevsky would admit to committing a crime to a relative stranger?

    • wetzel-rhymes-with says:

      I think you are making a myth to fill in the mysteries. You want to attribute the behaviors and think up a mad genius. I think the truth is that people like Smirnov are always being ‘handled’. It’s like that Bob Dylan song. They are always serving somebody. A layperson can’t understand how they are making plans and even getting rich with these games, but Smirnov had strings on him stronger than the ones the DOJ and FBI were pulling. With Barr and Brady, they thought they could keep those strings hidden, but through discovery Hunter Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell, assisted certainly by the great research here Marcy has done, the DOJ in the personage of Weiss found it could no longer keep those Russian and Israeli strings hidden. I think that’s what has happened.

      • freebird says:

        A pathological liar is not a genius in my book. The public record with lawsuits and judgments make it clear that Smirnov was profoundly flawed yet the gullible promoted him as the linchpin in their effort to frame and impeach the president.

        Your comment is an example of the Rorschach test with a twist. You did the test for me. I understand different viewpoints but you are inferring something that I do not think I implied.

        • wetzel-rhymes-with says:

          I can’t figure any of these people out. Sometimes I think I look at them like it’s a goddamn movie, like what I know from Warren Beatty in the Parallax Effect, but then I think that might be how they are all seeing themselves too, acting out the roles they learned from TV.

        • Ginevra diBenci says:

          Wetzel, I think *they* see themselves as if they were in a movie. And that explains a lot about why they act the way they do.

  12. zscoreUSA says:

    As far as whether the photo appears on the Mac Isaac laptop, I don’t think so. At least per whats on Marco Polo.

    I looked on Marco Polo for that photo and also the photo with the Kazakh guys at Cafe Milano, and didn’t see either. But the laptop photos are a mess and its possible its there and I didn’t see it. Dates are all over the place, many from October 2020 or June 2023. There are tons of duplicates. Photos from multiple family member’s devices. Duplicates all over. But I did see a photo of the diamond referred to elsewhere and associated paperwork. Which is the last couple photos on Marco Polo in the Album labeled Laptop Photos

    • coalesced says:

      I recently dove into the laptop files/photos for the first time myself and was puzzled by all the duplicates of duplicates with conflicting metadata from different sources. It’s a mess. Though coincidentally, Ablow’s texts/photos are the easiest to identify as they all contain “Keith” clear text in the file names. Screwing up the sawdust pic is even worse than I had imagined.

      • zscoreUSA says:

        And there are multiple text files. 1 set from the backup XS and 1 set from the laptop, with different date ranges.

        There might be relevant information when cross checking both sets. For example, in the XS set, the first text from the Blue Water Manager has a fake last name. That particular message is not in the laptop messages set, even though, as I understand, the messages should all be syncing.

      • ShallMustMay08 says:

        I don’t have the stomach for the MP site (yet) knowing who’s behind it and I thank those who do and confirming that Gus had the “cocaine” in “plain view”. Lol. Tells me he didn’t want to present as the idiot (and later on his CV) and publish with his report. He did his best spin but he knew the data could not be trusted as clean based on custody alone and along came Weiss and office to put up as evidence in a court filing. Add their “independent source” garbage and what I can only view as states of minds; which is not funny and instead disparaging of any defendant while belittling employer, the public, and specifically the court.

        Simply to reclaim any self respect with the Brady/Barr background info from here I certainly would want out.

    • zscoreUSA says:

      One possible source for the photo, that Fox News article mentions Peter Schweizer so I wonder if he produced the image for Tucker.

      About a year later, publishing for Breitbart on 10/16/20, Schweizer has exclusive access to Bevan Cooney’s emails while he is in prison. The Cooney-Schweizer contact was just “reestablished” after first meeting in 2019.

      In 2019, Cooney reached out to Schweizer after becoming familiar with the revelations in his 2018 book Secret Empires. Cooney explained that he believes he was the “fall guy” for the fraud scheme and that Archer and Hunter Biden had avoided responsibility.

      https://web.archive.org/web/20201101013009/https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/10/16/exclusive-this-is-china-inc-emails-reveal-hunter-bidens-associates-helped-communist-aligned-chinese-elites-secure-white-house-meetings/

      I’m not sure if Cooney would have that image, what his timeline would be with Devon and Hunter.

  13. Rugger_9 says:

    OT but wow. MTG apparently has moved to vacate the chair which might just backfire with the Santos replacement coming in. If Jeffries gets the gavel that should finish off the Comer Clown Committee and get some more ‘wins’ for Biden.

    • Reader_21 says:

      I wonder how many votes she actually gets on that, TBH – she’s not exactly made herself popular even among her R colleagues [and I believe the freedom caucus booted her out, if memory serves].

      I think Jeffries and Adam Smith [ranking on HASC] have said they think Johnson will be okay – provided he gives them some things in return. But didn’t make any ironclad promises or anything.

      • Reader_21 says:

        Then again, sounds like some of those same freedom caucus luminaries are pretty ticked about the government funding deal the House just passed to keep the government running and prevent a shutdown – so who knows.

      • Bugboy321 says:

        “…freedom caucus booted her out, if memory serves].”
        That is correct. It’s snakes eating snakes all the way down.

      • wetzel-rhymes-with says:

        At some point during this election season MAGA, as well as their various corporate and international supporters will accept with resignation the only possibility to win will be constant crisis, war, gas prices and apocalyptic portents. Marjorie Taylor Greene is a Q-Anon style Christian eschatologist propagandist. She is a kind of neo-Orwellian political Elmer Gantry. I think she is beginning a ferment in the House so that it can be an end-of-the-world spectacle for the 700 Club with a paralyzed House and nuclear terror from Russia to aid Trump in a few months.

        I don’t know what else they have going for this election but the end of the world. I think they are setting it up so that the individual state governments will be justified in their propaganda to decide who to receive electoral votes in a crisis. They can’t try the same path through the House and Vice President in the Senate, so they need to paralyze the House for the election and make it dysfunctional so that with a corrupt Supreme Court, riots, national emergency, and nuclear terror, they will find a way in the constitution to let the state legislatures make decisions over-ruling “questionable” election outcomes and give the Presidency if Donald Trump doesn’t win outright if the world is going to hell. Flight of fancy maybe.

    • MsJennyMD says:

      President Trump taught us how to defend our values.
      Marjorie Taylor Greene

      President Trump needs me in Washington.
      Marjorie Taylor Greene

      The biggest surprise to me is many members in Congress don’t actually work.
      Marjorie Taylor Greene

      I’m a regular person.
      Marjorie Taylor Greene

      • Rugger_9 says:

        After Gallagher of WI leaves, it’s 217-213 in the chamber. At the moment this is more or less a promise since the House is in recess to 09 APR. However, there are some rumblings that the Ds will help Johnson out….for a price. Ah, the sound of leverage in the morning.

  14. Reader_21 says:

    Great post, Marcy! One thing I haven’t seen much commentary on [unless I’ve missed] is the, shall we say, rather extensive overlap btw transnational and Russian (or as the FBI calls it, Eurasian] organized crime and the Russian intelligence services. Perhaps it was always present to some degree, but it got pretty well turbocharged once Putin got to power, per multiple Russian accounts [including the poisoned ex KGB whistleblower Alexander Litvenenko, deemed ‘highly credible’ by the UK’s top prosecutor, and his colleague, the assassinated reporter Anna Politkavskaya].

    Ie., given Smirnov’s seeming extensive ties to ROC, and Russian security services’ notorious use of cut outs, he may well have interacted closely with figures who he believed were tied to Russian intelligence, whether or not that’s where their actual paycheck emanated from.

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