Grassley takes credit for prodding FBI to investigate Biden whistleblower charged with lying

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley took credit Wednesday for prodding the FBI to investigate whistleblower claims made by Alexander Smirnov — claims that have since resulted in the former federal informant being arrested on charges that he fabricated a bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden.

“Just think of what I did for the people this country for making sure that somebody was misleading the FBI is no longer going to mislead them,” Grassley told Iowa reporters during a weekly press call. “And think what I did for the people of this country to make sure that the FBI is doing its job.”

Last year, Grassley publicly released an internal FBI document known as an FD-1023 that contained unconfirmed allegations from a confidential source claiming that the CEO of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, paid a $10 million bribe to the Bidens.

The claims had been at the center of the U.S. House Oversight Committee’s investigation into Biden and his family’s business dealings. And once Grassley made the document public, Republicans seized on it, in calling for Biden’s impeachment.

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But the informant, Smirnov, was indicted in February and charged with two counts of making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record for information he gave to the FBI. His lawyers say he could be sentenced to 15 to 21 months in prison if convicted.

A federal judge on Feb. 26 ordered Smirnov to be jailed while awaiting trail because of concerns he could flee the country.

Grassley said Wednesday his role in the saga has been misunderstood, arguing his only goal was to ensure the FBI was following up on a lead that he believed they had been ignoring.

“Then they interview this Smirnov, and they find out he's been lying to them,” Grassley said. “Well, they've been paying him for 10 years. … So, the bottom line of it is, if I hadn't made this public, this guy would still be working for the taxpayers and still probably being paid for it and still be lying to them.”

Grassley did not comment Wednesday on whether the charges against Smirnov have undermined the House GOP’s impeachment efforts.

“That's a whole separate issue I got nothing to do with,” he said.

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House Republicans have frequently pointed to the now-debunked information Smirnov provided in their efforts to impeach Biden.

“The most corroborating evidence we have is the 1023 form from this highly credible confidential human source,” House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said in a January Fox News interview discussing the House of Representatives impeachment inquiry into Biden.

He said the information the informant gave to the FBI is at “the heart of this matter.”

But many of those same Republicans have now downplayed Smirnov’s role in their impeachment efforts.

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky and one of the Republicans leading the inquiry, said in a statement that the probe “is not reliant on the FBI’s FD-1023.”

Instead, Comer contended that the inquiry, “is based on a large record of evidence, including bank records and witness testimony, revealing that Joe Biden knew of and participated in his family’s business dealings.”

USA TODAY contributed to this report.

Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Des Moines Register. She is also covering the 2024 presidential race for USA TODAY as a senior national campaign correspondent. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: FBI Alexander Smirnov investigation was Grassley's doing, he says