From #Politico reporter Kyle Cheney on Zombie Twitter: The courthouse filing for detained Alexander Smirnov, who falsely claimed that Joe #Biden took bribes from the Ukrainians.
* Smirnov was about to flee the country with "foreign intelliigence contacts."
* Smirnov was an Israeli citizen.
* Smirnov "provided false derogatory information" about Biden in June 2020. This was around the time Giuliani was creating false information about Biden and Ukraine.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nvd.167064/gov.uscourts.nvd.167064.15.0.pdf
#Russia #Ukraine BREAKING From #CNN: U.S. magistrate judge orders Alexander Smirnov released, says the government failed to provide enough evidence to warrant holding him until trial.
Smirnov is alleged to have lied to the FBI, falsely claiming evidence that Joe and Hunter #Biden accepted bribes from Ukraine.
The FBI detained him fearing he was about to flee the U.S., perhaps to Russian intelligence agents.
@WordsmithFL: This could lead to some intrigue. I wonder what the over-under is on his falling from a high-rise window, "dying suddenly while walking", etc. or that he'll find his way out of the US and/or that the GOP will pivot to discredit the FBI (as they like to do a lot). They just have to drag everything out until Election Day.
@thedisasterautist My instinct says he's linked somehow to Giuliani, Stone, Bannon, etc. His rumor mongering coincides on the timeline with Giuliani running around during the 2020 election trying to find Ukraine dirt on Biden. That's awfully coincidental, especially considering #Trump was still in power, Bill Barr still ran DOJ, and Trump was trying to convince everyone Biden was the Ukraine crook, not himself.
Still, all circumstantial so far.
@WordsmithFL: I bet if Rudy was asked and was honest, he'd say he wished he died a hero not long after 9/11 instead of living long enough to become a knock-off Jack Ryan villain ordered from Temu or Wish.com.
"During his custodial interview on February 14, Smirnov admitted that officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story" about Hunter Biden.
"... the false information he provided was not trivial. It targeted the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties in the United States."