House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan finally revealed the truth about ex–FBI informant Alexander Smirnov.

After trying and failing to salvage Republicans’ crumbling impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, Ohio Representative Jim Jordan at last, finally, conceded on Friday that Alexander Smirnov’s story might not be totally accurate.

“I don’t know, maybe the guy did lie,” Jordan said at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday.

The House Judiciary chair spent the better part of the week attempting to twist and tweak Smirnov’s testimony, insisting, as he had for months, that Smirnov’s allegations—that Biden had reaped millions off of a business deal between his son and the Ukrainian company Burisma—still held weight, and could prove the most viable pathway to successfully charge the sitting president. That is, even after Smirnov was indicted for lying to the FBI about those claims—and then reportedly admitted to prosecutors that the story had been drawn up with the help of top Russian intelligence officials and the whole thing was a bed of lies.

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    “I don’t know, maybe the guy did lie,” Jordan said at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday.

    … that’s absolutely something you look into before taking this any where near as far as one did. When you throw stones at the emperor, you make sure you don’t miss.

  • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
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    9 months ago

    “But there sure is quite a contrast for—Christopher Steele can give false information about President Trump, and he continues to get paid.”

    Thing is, the information in the Steele Dossier was not FALSE. Even the most salacious allegation, the “pee tape”, has been corroborated.

    https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/pee-tape-trump-mueller-report-823755/

    "on October 30th, 2016, Trump’s private attorney and fixer Michael Cohen received a text from a Russian businessman involved in the Trump Tower Moscow deal, in progress for more than a year. “Stopped flow of tapes from Russia but not sure if there’s anything else. Just so you know….” Giorgi Rtskhiladze wrote to Cohen. Cohen told investigators he spoke to Trump about the issue after receiving the texts from Rtskhiladze. 

    Rtskhiladze later admitted he had been told the tapes were fake, but he did not communicate that to Cohen, the report says. 

    Rtskhiladze’s description of the tapes’ content tracks with the unverified information included in the Steele dossier, which claimed that Trump watched Russian prostitutes urinate in a Moscow hotel room in 2013. “Rtskhiladze said ‘tapes’ referred to compromising tapes of Trump rumored to be held by persons associated with the Russian real estate conglomerate Crocus Group, which had helped host the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant in Russia.”"

    • protist@mander.xyz
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      9 months ago

      Also, regardless, Christopher Steele didn’t present any of this information while under oath, so even if any of it weren’t true, he has every right to say it. Alexander Smirnov lied under oath under the direction of the Russian government

      • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        More accurately, he lied to the FBI.

        Homer: Well, the evening began at the gentlemen’s club, where we were discussing Wittgenstein over a game of backgammon.

        Scully: Mr. Simpson, it’s a felony to lie to the FBI.

        Homer: We were sitting in Barney’s car eating packets of mustard. You happy?

  • dhork@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    “But there sure is quite a contrast for—Christopher Steele can give false information about President Trump, and he continues to get paid. This guy, this Mr. Smirnov, can give false information—what they’ve said is false information—and he gets arrested,” Jordan added, referring to former British spy Christopher Steele and his private report of raw intelligence on Trump’s suspected ties to the Russian government, better known as the Steele Dossier.

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that Steele guy ever filed any paperwork with the FBI saying his claims were true.

    • athos77@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      Steele produced an intelligence dossier. It listed facts, extrapolations and rumors and it clearly labeled which items were which. Iirc, the pee tape was listed as a persistent rumor out of Russia that he couldn’t corroborate, but that he also couldn’t definitely label as false.

  • Nobody@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    “Anyway, I’m looking forward to whatever bullshit we spin up next. We’ve got some Russian guys looking into a rumor that Joe Biden was DB Cooper.”