Ranking Member Raskin’s Statement on Guilty Plea of Alexander Smirnov Whose Lies Were at the “Heart” of Chairman Comer’s Failed Impeachment Inquiry
Oversight Democrats Repeatedly Warned that Phony Bribery Claims Against President Biden Were Part of Propaganda Effort by Russian Intelligence
Washington, D.C. (December 17, 2024)—Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, issued the following statement after Alexander Smirnov pled guilty to working with Russian intelligence agencies to promote false bribery allegations in an effort to smear President Biden. Mr. Smirnov’s phony accusations were recorded in the FBI’s FD-1023 tipsheet repeatedly cited by Congressional Republicans throughout their failed impeachment campaign against President Joe Biden:
“Mr. Smirnov’s guilty plea is a stunning indictment of Congressional Republicans who turned three congressional committees into willing mouthpieces for Russian propaganda aimed at undermining the office of the President of the United States.
“For 20 months, Congressional Republicans made Smirnov’s lies the ‘heart’ of their failed effort to impeach President Biden. Republicans were repeatedly warned—by Committee Democrats, former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas, and Trump’s own Secretary of State and Secretary of the Treasury—that Russian intelligence agencies were using individuals close to President Trump, including Rudy Giuliani, Senator Ron Johnson, and others to promote completely fraudulent bribery claims against President Biden. Yet Chairman Comer, together with Chairman Jordan and Chairman Smith, repeatedly deployed this propaganda to try to remove the President of the United States.
“This week, Mr. Smirnov admitted to his outrageous crimes in a court of law. When will my Republican colleagues admit they became unwitting accomplices in a Russian disinformation and influence operation? When will they apologize to President Biden and the American people for spreading lies to impeach the President for totally imaginary offenses? At the very least, will Chairman Comer commit to stop spreading these sickening and now legally debunked Russian lies in the media? Enough is enough.
“It is time for America to break the spell of propaganda, conspiracy theory, and disinformation in our politics, whether it is concocted at home or manufactured abroad or some combination thereof.”
Click here to read Oversight Committee Democrats report debunking the lies that have defined Republicans’ failed impeachment inquiry and detailing the mountain of exculpatory evidence that discredits Republican claims and exonerates President Biden.