Grassley touts role in FBI acting on ex-FBI informant Smirnov
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) touted his role in pushing the FBI to investigate the allegations made by ex-FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, who has since been charged with making up false claims central to the GOP’s impeachment inquiry into President Biden.
Last July, Grassley released a lightly redacted document — an FD-1023 form — detailing unfounded allegations of the Biden family’s corruption and bribery. The form featured conversations Smirnov had with the FBI, in which he relayed that the head of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma told him he paid both President Biden and his son Hunter Biden $5 million each.
In his floor speech Tuesday, Grassley said the FBI “finally acted” because of the document’s release.
“In other words, we embarrassed them,” he said. “And by that time, as I’ve said by my timeline, the document was over three years old. Three years they didn’t do their job. So, the 1023 sat with the FBI collecting dust, until we, in Congress, acted. My releasing the 1023 got the FBI to do its job that they should have been doing three years before.”
The form’s details came back to light earlier this month after Smirnov was arrested and charged with making false statements to the FBI. He is accused of making up the allegations in the wake of his opposition to Biden’s presidential candidacy.
Grassley’s release of the form drew scrutiny at the time, notably from Democrats, while he maintained he did it for the sake of transparency.
“It’s all pretty simple. I didn’t promote or vouch for the allegations in the 1023 as the truth, like some confused Democrats and partisan media have falsely said,” Grassley said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “I pushed the FBI to do their job because that’s my responsibility to the taxpayers and the people of Iowa.”
Grassley reiterated his point in an exclusive call with Iowa reporters Wednesday, per a USA Today report.
He told reporters his role in the investigation was misinterpreted and that he only released the document to make sure the FBI was properly following up on a lead he thought was being ignored, USA Today reported.
“Just think of what I did for the people [of] this country … making sure that somebody [who] was misleading the FBI is no longer going to mislead them,” he reportedly said. “And think what I did for the people of this country to make sure that the FBI is doing its job.”
The Hill reached out to the FBI for comment.
A federal judge on Monday ruled Smirnov will remain jailed after federal prosecutors raised concerns he was planning to flee the country because he made plans to travel outside the U.S. to meet with “multiple foreign intelligence agencies” who could relocate him.
Prosecutors also alleged Smirnov received information from Russian intelligence and said he had access to more than $6 million in liquid funds, which would allow him to “live comfortably” overseas for the rest of his life.
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