Russian Follies: The Sequel

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February 25, 2024

Just days ago, on February 14 to be precise, Vladimir Putin said he prefers Biden in the 2024 presidential race. Nevertheless, the media, often with the intelligence community’s aid, seems to be trying again in the indictment of Vladimir Smirnov to hint that Donald Trump is somehow being aided by Russia.  Thin gruel, indeed. A quick review of the FBI’s consistent election meddling and gaslighting of voters is the necessary background for this week’s account.

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Background

In case, like me, you’re finding it hard to keep track of all the gaslighting on Russia in recent years, Adam Mill kindly documents 14 recent Russian hoaxes: 

1. The Russian Co-Signers Hoax: In August of 2018, MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell claimed Russian oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin cosigned loans to Donald Trump from Deutsche Bank. MSNBC quickly retracted the claim when Trump threatened to sue.

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2. The Trump Tower Russians Hoax: In July of 2017, The New York Times reported that Donald Trump, Jr. met with a Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, at Trump Tower in 2016 in the hope that she had opposition research against Trump’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. Although a meeting did take place, the “Russian” in question shared a client with Fusion GPS — the firm Clinton hired to frame Trump…

3. The Hunter Biden Russian Disinformation Hoax: In October of 2020, shortly after The New York Post reported on the contents of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop , 51 intelligence officials signed a letter characterizing the story as Russian disinformation…

4. The Russian Bounty for U.S. Soldiers Hoax: In June of 2020, NBC cited anonymous government sources who claimed that the Russians paid bounties to the Taliban for every U.S. soldier it killed. Later, after the election, NBC admitted the story could not be verified…

5. The “Russia Destroyed the Nord Stream Pipeline” Hoax: Shortly after the September 2022 destruction of the natural gas pipeline, anonymous Western officials blamed Russia for the explosion. The allegations quickly fell apart…

6. The “Carter Page Is a Russian Spy” Hoax: In order to justify spying on the Trump campaign, the FBI lied to a FISA court to obtain warrants spanning one year ending in 2017 to spy on Trump campaign figure, Carter Page.

7. The “Trump Is a Russian Asset” Hoax: This hoax may have started when Hillary Clinton paid Fusion GPS to smear Donald Trump, late in the spring of 2016. But the intelligence community quickly sponsored the allegation with anonymous leaks by “retired” intelligence officials. 

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8. The Russia/Alfa Bank Hoax: Days before the 2016 election, Slate reported that a “group of computer scientists” alleged that the Trump organization had a secret backchannel to a bank in Russia called, “Alfa Bank.” 

9. The Russian Troll Farm Hoax: In 2018, Special Counsel Robert Mueller dismissed charges that two Russian companies (Concord Management and Consulting LLC and Concord) ran troll farms that interfered with the election… the Russian companies surprised the Justice Department by hiring an attorney who demanded proof of the wrongdoing. The Justice Department could not meet its evidentiary burden and dismissed the charges.

10.  The “Devin Nunes Is a Putin Puppet” Hoax: In 2017, former Representative Devin Nunes led one of the most consequential congressional investigations of all time. Among the revelations his investigation uncovered is the discovery that Hillary Clinton paid for the Trump dossier that accused Trump of being a Russian puppet. So naturally, Nunes himself was accused of being a puppet of Russia.

11.  The “James Comer Is a Putin Puppet” Hoax: More recently, there has been a coordinated counterstrike against House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer. Among the allegations: Comer is doing Putin’s bidding by investigating the Bidens. Related to this hoax is the hoax that the FBI’s arrest of a single witness topples the entire Comer case against Biden. On the contrary, Comer has produced undisputed bank records showing foreign payments to the Bidens including payments from Russia.

12.  The Russian “Pee Tape” Hoax: Among the Clinton-financed smears against Donald Trump, none is more memorable than the allegation that Trump instructed two Russian prostitutes to urinate on a hotel bed during his visit to Russia. The FBI used taxpayer money to attempt to obtain this alleged video tape. Although the FBI did not have possession of any such tape, it appears that then-director James Comey used his knowledge of the operation to produce it in an attempt to blackmail the then-incoming President Trump…

13.  The Michael Cohen Paid Russian Hackers Hoax: Steele alleged through his dossier that President Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, traveled to Prague in 2016 to pay the Russian hackers responsible for hacking the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to obtain the emails later leaked by Wikileaks. Cohen quickly produced passport records to show the meeting never took place. Czech intelligence later corroborated the denial.

14. The Russian/DNC Hack Hoax: While it is possible that the Russians really were behind the hack of the DNC, there are legitimate reasons to question the claim that we know the Russians were behind it… For one thing, computer security experts have noted that the exfiltrated information downloaded too fast to be an over-the-internet hack.

He may well be right that these hoaxes were designed in the public’s mind to deny Trump’s entitlement to free speech because, after all, he was a “Russian asset.”

This week, however, there’s a more immediate motive: An effort to distract and minimize the serious charges of corruption against President Biden and his son Hunter and brother James. The usual Democratic chorus line is playing roles in the by now-tattered Russian script: Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff in the lead roles and congressmen Jamie Raskin and Dan Goldman as comic relief.

Indisputable Evidence of Biden’s Corruption

Congressional investigators examining the president and his family have uncovered millions of dollars from overseas entities in exchange for favorable treatment or the promise of it:

The Biden family received: Over $3 million from Romania. Over $8 million from China. $6.5 million from Ukraine. Moreover, there is ample testimony under oath documenting Biden family corruption, most recently by Tony Bobulinksi, Hunter’s partner: 

Mr. Bobulinski provided the committee with texts and emails in which Hunter and Mr. Gilliar refer to Joe’s involvement in the deal. Mr. Gilliar warned Mr. Bobulinski in late May in a text: “Don’t mention Joe being involved, it’s only when u are face to face, I know u know that but they are paranoid.”

Mr. Bobulinski says another dispute concerned a sudden demand that James Biden, Joe’s brother, get a stake. Mr. Gilliar explained in a text message that this was necessary because “H could be unreliable, so I pushed another family member.”[snip]

Mr. Bobulinski had tough words for Mr. Walker’s recent testimony claiming to be unaware of Joe’s involvement. “For every one of these guys to now have amnesia or, like, you know, claim that, ‘Oh, Hunter wasn’t really talking about his father’ is just absurd,” he told the committees.

He points to “stacks of evidence that Joe Biden showed up at meetings, shook hands, participated in phone calls,” including claims he was on at least 20 Hunter business calls. 

Joe Biden “was calling to demonstrate the Biden brand to whoever was in that meeting, whether it was the Ukrainians, the Romanians, the Russians, Colombians, Chinese, whoever it was. That’s all he had to do.” Mr. Bobulinski says. “Just him being on the phone is evidence of involvement and enabling the transaction.”

Alexander Smirnov

Appearing in this latest production of the Russian hoax as the administration’s deus ex machina is Alexander Smirnov, a dual citizen of Russia and Israel. He had worked for the FBI since 2010 as a confidential human source for which he’d been paid over $200,000. The FBI called Smirnov “Highly credible” in a briefing to the investigating congressional committee. He apparently was the government’s source for information that Joe and Hunter Biden each received $5 million from Ukrainian energy company Burisma. (Uncontested is the fact that Hunter, who never went to Ukraine, did receive a million dollars a year from the company, purportedly for legal work although Hunter has no experience in this area and no legal work for them is evident.)  Also beyond question is Joe Biden’s boasting on January 23, 2018 that as Vice President he forced Ukraine to fire prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating corruption in Ukraine, threatening to withhold promised aid if they did not so. 

Smirnov’s introduction to the plot is by virtue of an indictment by U.S. attorney David Weiss, who’s prosecuting Hunter Biden and who just indicted Alexander Smirnov.

The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley Strassel expresses rational doubt about the FBI’s credibility and competence: 

When Republicans in 2023 heard about the FBI write-up of these claims, they demanded the bureau hand it over. The FBI initially balked, arguing their source was too valuable to risk exposing. House Oversight Committee Republicans say the FBI told Congress their source had worked for the bureau since 2010, had been paid roughly $200,000 for information, and was deemed “highly credible.” Ranking Oversight Democrat Jamie Raskin acknowledged the FBI’s briefing about credibility. Republicans say Director Christopher Wray also confirmed the FBI used Mr. Smirnov’s information in investigations until June 2023 (when the bribery claims went public). The FBI affirmed Mr. Smirnov’s credibility so long as it was useful to do so.

It isn’t useful any longer. Republicans for months have hounded special counsel David Weiss, who is handling the Hunter Biden probe, to explain what he’s done since 2020 to verify or refute the Smirnov claims. Last week’s indictment, which he sought, is his answer. The FBI’s “highly credible” source is now presented as a brazen liar, a boaster, a profiteer who played a double game with the bureau, and a partisan who had it in for Joe Biden.

If this is true, it ought to be massive story that the FBI for 13 years relied on a man who prosecutors now worry has troubling and “extensive” ties to Russian intelligence. Instead, the media in its desire to embarrass Republicans is working to absolve the FBI, with the New York Times explaining the bureau never did “think much” of the Smirnov claims and concluded in 2020 that they “did not merit continued investigation.”

The indictment of Smirnov points to his admission to his FBI handler that he talked to Russian intelligence before 2020 (why wouldn’t a confidential human source?) and that the events he reported occurred after Biden was no longer vice president. But Biden admitted two years earlier that he had meddled in Ukraine’s affairs to the benefit of Burisma. It’s a curious claim because he told his handler all about these contacts — there was nothing secretive about them. In any event, nothing he reported concerned the evidence on Hunter’s own laptop and the large number of confirmed emails of Hunter cashing in on deals with foreign companies and business leaders. As Jonathan Turley points out “Smirnov was not the reason Hunter was indicted by the same prosecutor, David Weiss, who just indicted him.”

Smirnov arrived from overseas to stand trial in California. When he landed in Nevada, Weiss had him arrested and sought his imprisonment pending trial. The judge denied that and released him on his own recognizance with conditions to prevent his fleeing. Smirnov continued his flight to California to meet with his counsel, Weiss had him rearrested and found a judge who ordered him jailed pending trial.

The Russian sequel is looking more and more like a comic production. 

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