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erronis

(23,712 posts)
12. EmptyWheel: David Weiss' Rush Job on Alexander Smirnov's Sentencing
Tue Dec 17, 2024, 11:23 AM
Dec 2024
https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/12/17/david-weiss-rush-job-on-alexander-smirnovs-sentencing/
(Also see her many other posts on Smirnov at https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/alexander-smirnov/)

As I noted in an update to this post, Alexander Smirnov, the FBI informant who attempted to frame Joe Biden with bribery in 2020 as part of Bill Barr’s side channel for dirt on Hunter Biden, has pled guilty.

In his plea deal, Smirnov admitted,

The events Defendant first reported to the Handler in June 2020 were fabrications. In truth and fact. Defendant had contact with executives from Burisma in 2017, after the end of the Obama-Biden Administration and after the then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General had been fired in February 2016 — in other words, when Public Official 1 could not engage in any official act to influence U.S. policy and when the Prosecutor General was no longer in office. Defendant transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against Public Official 1, the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties for President, after expressing bias against Public Official 1 and his candidacy.


Yesterday, Judge Otis Wright accepted Smirnov’s plea.

I’ll have a more substantive post about how David Weiss, along with an absolutely supine media, appears to have buried the frame job to which he was a witness.

For now, I want to point to a notable feature of the plea: the timing of it. One of the terms of the deal was that Smirnov agree to be sentenced within 30 days of his plea colloquy, but not before January 8.

3. Defendant agrees to:

a. At the earliest opportunity requested by the SCO-W and provided by the Court, appear and plead guilty to:

i. Count Two of the indictment in United States v. Alexander Smirnov, 2:24-CR-00091-ODW, which charges defendant with causing the creation of a false and fictitious record in a federal investigation, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1519 (hereafter the “obstruction of justice indictment”).

ii. Counts One, Five and Eight, of the indictment in United States v Alexander Smirnov, 2:24-CR-00702-ODW, which charges the defendant with tax evasion for tax years 2020, 2021 and 2022, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201 (hereafter the “tax evasion indictment”).

b. Request that the Court sentence the defendant within 30 days of entry of the entry of his guilty pleas, but not sooner than January 8,2025

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

This would be a great story for an investigative journalist, if only there were any Walleye Dec 2024 #1
Congressional Investigation. multigraincracker Dec 2024 #3
Yes, but not from this Congress. Comer still trying to impeach Biden. Walleye Dec 2024 #4
Check out Marcy Wheeler's pieces on Smirnov. She has been investigating and reporting on this for many months erronis Dec 2024 #11
It's a shame she's not on ABC or one of the other networks Walleye Dec 2024 #21
Mother Jones and The Nation Felicita Dec 2024 #23
I'm shocked, shocked that Republicans like Jordan and Comer might lie surfered Dec 2024 #2
Pisses me off, because they know damn well, Joe Biden took no bribes, ever Walleye Dec 2024 #5
Just like the price of eggs stories. Botany Dec 2024 #6
BEARING FALSE WITNESS - G.O.P. is guilty BoRaGard Dec 2024 #7
They better watch out on posting the 10 Commandments in schools, that will end up backfiring on their Clouds Passing Dec 2024 #8
The sad truth is that lying is working for them. surfered Dec 2024 #9
The lies work when they are spread and shouted. The truth doesn't hurt them when it is exposed and buried. hay rick Dec 2024 #17
Tried bringing this up. Kid Berwyn Dec 2024 #10
EmptyWheel: David Weiss' Rush Job on Alexander Smirnov's Sentencing erronis Dec 2024 #12
Of course they knew. We still dont understand what republicans are doing oldmanlynn Dec 2024 #13
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." Goebbels Botany Dec 2024 #14
Better than shooting him..... lastlib Dec 2024 #15
Republican traitors have no shame. Emile Dec 2024 #16
And they wrap themselves in God, Patriotism, the Flag, and family values as they shit on America, Botany Dec 2024 #20
This came out in impeachment hearings that this guy was lying and being investigated for it. onecaliberal Dec 2024 #18
they know their audience state of stupid Dec 2024 #19
The Republican Party Mr.Bee Dec 2024 #22
Latest Discussions»General Discussion»So the Republicans were p...»Reply #12