'We can just tell this guy whatever': How Russian spies fed lies directly to GOP lawmakers
Prosecutors revealed that the so-called whistleblower in the Hunter Biden investigation was feeding disinformation directly from Russian spies to Republican lawmakers. Alexander Smirnov admitted that "officials associated with Russian intelligence" were involved with passing along a story about President Joe Biden's son that became the basis of allegations in the GOP impeachment inquiry, and prosecutors said the former FBI informant was “actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections.”
NBC News reporter Tom Winter told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday that revelations about the sources for Smirnov's claims were nothing short of stunning.
"I think when you look at this in the totality of what was in the detention memo, which was extraordinary – I mean, prosecutors use these to really put the hammer down and show a bit about what type of evidence they will bring forward," Winter said. "When you look at the filing [Tuesday], they went really deep and unclassifying information, information that was unclassified on Valentine's Day, when Smirnov was arrested, deep into his background, that he was a 10-year-plus source for the FBI."
"He had a handler that he talked to nearly every day, which is a lot, by the way, for somebody who is a confidential human source," Winter added. "[He was] somebody who had been run out of the Seattle field office, assigned to an agent who works in the criminal squad there, and the key line from this, and we'll show a portion of the document that was filed [Tuesday], is that it says during his custodial interview on Feb. 14, so it occurs after Smirnov is in handcuffs, he admitted that officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story about business person one who we've publicly identified is Hunter Biden. So he told the FBI after he is in handcuffs, 'Yes, I did this, and it came from individuals associated with Russian intelligence.'"
https://www.rawstory.com/alexander-smirnov/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Smirnoff (the vodka) was founded by a Moscovite named Smirnov. Republicans continue to drink the vodka.
I was just trying to point out that some Republicans are swallowing lies perpetrated by Russia, metaphorically imbibing Russian "vodka". I came up with the metaphor because I was curious about the similarity between "Smirnoff" and "Smirnov" and I found a link in the Wikipedia entry for Smirnoff identifying Smirnov as the founder of the distillery. I was not trying to be misleading or controversial in any way, and I wasn't passing on anyone else's idea. Also, "Kool-Aid" is a brand name, so only the holder of the brand could assign a "translation" into Russian or any other language. I don't know how my innocuous post became inflammatory.
