The Wrongologist

The Daily Escape:

After sunset, Clark Dry Lake, Anza-Borrego SP, CA – February 2024 photo by Paulette Donnellon

The case against Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden took a bad turn for Congressional Republicans who were alleging bribery by the two men, when a former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, was found to be making false bribery claims and was arrested and charged by the DOJ. From NBC: (emphasis by Wrongo)

“A former FBI informant who allegedly fed the bureau false information about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign said that some of the information…came from “officials associated with Russian intelligence,” prosecutors said in a filing Tuesday.”

More:

“Smirnov, according to prosecutors with special counsel David Weiss’ office, provided false derogatory information to the FBI about the Bidens, including the false allegation that officials with Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company that employed Hunter Biden, had paid the Bidens $5 million each…”

Those fabrications were widely promoted by Congressional Republicans who cited it as a justification for their effort to impeach Biden.

David Weiss, the Special Counsel heading the case against Hunter Biden, was the government’s lead prosecutor against Smirnov in Nevada, seeking to have Smirnov held without bail. But in what should have been an easy case, Weiss lost, and Smirnov is now free. That seems insane from a national security perspective.

Think about this: The Republicans’ main witness in their efforts to impeach Biden has been charged with lying to the FBI. He has also admitted to having ties to Russian intelligence, who fed him some of the information ultimately used by the Republicans. Previously, Reps James Comer (R-K ) and Jim Jordan (R-OH) said that Smirnov’s was the best evidence they had.

Last summer, Comer had threatened to hold the FBI in contempt, leading the Bureau to show members of the Oversight Committee a form that documented the statements Smirnov allegedly made to his FBI handler in 2020. Unfortunately for Comer and Jordan, the Bureau emphasized that the existence of the form did not mean the claims were vetted. Despite that warning, the GOP ran with the information. One Republican who viewed the form quickly proclaimed that Joe Biden was “100% guilty” of bribery.

This shows that these Republicans were duped and used as assets of Russian intelligence. Let’s connect the dots, first with this tweet by Radley Balko:

But think about the big picture:

• These members of Congress initiated impeachment proceedings against a US President based on information passed to them by an agent of Russian intelligence.
• These same members have refused to pass funding to aid Ukraine.
• These same members refused to impeach Trump when he extorted Ukraine.
• These same members tried to suggest it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 election.
• And, these same members voted against certifying Biden’s 2020 election.

America’s democracy is in a terrible place if one of the two national political Parties is so easily turned into dupes for Russian intelligence simply because they aim to acquire more political power. Imagine if the GOP had been collaborating with the KGB during the Cuban Missile Crisis!

If the Republicans fail to own up to using Russia-supplied information and if they continue to use it,  we’ll see Putin get eastern Europe while America gets Christo-fascism.

It’s time for Congress, at a minimum, to question Comer and Jordan and others. It should be a time to censure them, along with other Republicans who relied on Alexander Smirnov to smear the Bidens. That includes Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), but Wrongo knows that will never happen.

Isn’t this continuing complicity between Russia, Trump, and the GOP a big hammer to hit Trump and the GOP with, in the fall?