Legal AF by MeidasTouch - DUMB AS ROCKS Republicans DESTROY Their Own Investigation

Episode Date: February 17, 2024

The informant used by MAGA Congress as the basis of their indictment proceedings against President Biden HAS BEEN INDICTED by Hunter Biden’s Special Counsel for LYING TO THE FBI about the scheme. Michael Popok of Legal AF reports on what Alexander Smirnov’s —who also is reported to have paid Trump’s Truth Social millions of dollars—indictment means for the credibility of the impeachment process. This is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://BetterHelp.com/LEGALAF today to get 10% off your first month and get on your way to being your best self! Visit https://meidastouch.com for more! Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown Lights On with Jessica Denson: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/lights-on-with-jessica-denson On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Popak, Legal AF, Alexander Smirnoff has been indicted, related to false statements against Joe Biden and Hunter Biden, alleging that they are involved in a bribery scandal and took $5 million of payments when they weren't. You'll know a lot about Alexander Smirnoff when I'm done with this hot take. And I'm sure that James Comer, who is the MAGA head of the Oversight Committee, wishes that you didn't know anything about him because the entire basis for the investigation against Joe Biden, the entire basis for the indictment, frankly, has been Alexander Smirnov's statement to the FBI. And when those statements are given to the FBI, they're put on a form. That form has a number.

The number is 1023. I'm going to talk a lot about form 1023, which MAGA has waved around and Senator Grassley of Iowa released to the public, even though the FBI said we can't trust the informant and he eventually got just got indicted for lying to the FBI. This is the type of evidence that MAGA is relying upon when they say that Joe Biden is corrupt. In fact, let's talk a little bit about Alexander Smirnoff and then I'm gonna go to the actual statements made by MAGA by James Comer last year just to kind of frame where we are, where we're at.

And again, that the MAGA are relying on fake and false information and informants that are now been indicted. In fact, Alexander Smirnoff now been indicted. In fact, Alexander Smirnoff has been indicted by David Weiss. David Weiss is the special counsel appointed by Merrick Garland, who's the lead special counsel over Hunter Biden. This came up because as an offshoot of the Hunter Biden investigation, they found a lying, criminally lying Alexander Smirnoff. a lying criminally lying Alexander Smirnoff. You may remember that Alexander Smirnoff is also involved with a bribery or an illegal foreign donation to Truth Social, the media company owned by Donald Trump. Another $5 billion that came through Paxson Bank as reported by a whistleblower

for Truth Social, Will Wilkerson. Are you following? I'm gonna tie it all together on this hot take. Let's start with Alexander Samirinov and the statements made, false statements made, by James Comer that all of MAGA is a Twitter about and has been relying on since last year. Let's roll the clip of Comer on Fox Business.

But one point that is so interesting to me, interesting quote unquote, is that Burisma wanted to come into the U.S. energy business one way or another, and this prosecutor in Ukraine was standing in the way. So what do they do? They go after, I'm flat out bribery to the Bidens who were in power at the time as vice president I mean to me that rings so clearly there's motive here, which Thanks to Brooks reporting. I hadn't heard before Yeah, what the what the motive was Larry was they were wanting to enter into the US energy market through an IPO

And they felt like they couldn't conduct an initial public offering if they were under investigation for corruption in Ukraine. So that's what it all pertained to. That's where the supposed bribe happened. That's why it happened because they wanted to get rid of the prosecutor and try to clear up their name and have a Biden on the board

so that they could do an initial public offering to try to show credibility as they try to expand the market. They also wanted to buy an existing energy company and I believe it was in Texas, but I don't know the name of the company. So that was their whole business model, that to get their foot in the door, buy a company and do an IPO.

Everything that James Cumber just said is a lie. Everything is incorrect. Everything that the host Kudlow said is incorrect and fabricated because everything that Alexander Smyrnoff, 41 years old, told the FBI and that was reflected in the Form 1023 witness statement is a lie. And he's now been indicted as a result. The two-count indictment, one for false statement, which we call 18 USC, United States Code 1001

charge and a 1519 charge for fake record. The story that Alexander Smirnoff told and the heavy emphasis here is on story, a fake story, is that sometime in 2020, he reported to the FBI that Burisma paid Hunter Biden, and Hunter Biden was on the board of this energy company in Ukraine, but paid Hunter Biden and Joe Biden, okay, while he was either vice president or about to be president, $5 million each, $10 million to stop criminal investigations of barisma by a Ukrainian prosecutor, which was being supported by the United States. Only problem with that timeline is wrong, because by the time the conversations were made with Smirnov with Hunter Biden, it was after Joe Biden had left the vice presidency, so he had no position of power,

and it was after the special prosecutor had already been in Ukraine, had already been dismissed. So it couldn't possibly have been linked to that. And he kept changing his story in conversations with the FBI. He originally told the FBI in 2017 that Burisma was trying to have a IPO and a initial public offering to go public Have their company go on the stock exchange and that that was in 2017 three years later He completely changed the story Dumped all over the Biden family claimed falsely that Joe Biden was involved in a bribery scandal Which MAGA ran with including on Fox News that you just saw, and is at the heart of their impeachment investigation against Joe Biden. All of that was has proven by the special counsel

and by the FBI to be false. Now, Smirnov also threw another contact, another relationship of Putin, Anton Pustanikov. Anton Pustanikov is a friend of Putin and has a bank that he controls called Paxim Bank. Paxim Bank made a $5 million payment to Truth Social, Donald Trump's organization. So Smyrnov is busy trying to bribe his way out of whatever situation he's in. The problem with his 1023, this show is sponsored by BetterHelp. As I get older, I realize more and more that the relationships that I've cultivated

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to get 10% off your first month. That's better H-E-L-P.com slash legal AF. I'm gonna move to Chuck Grassley next. Chuck Grassley, a Senator on the Foreign Relations Committee released the 1023 of The witness statement the false witness statement of Smirnoff in order to no pun intended to smear Joe Biden and Hunter Biden Over the objection of the FBI because they knew was probably false at the time. He did it anyway Let's go to a clip of Chuck Grassley and why he released the 1023

There you just said you read the document, is that right? Yes. Then what did it say? Well, I'm not going to characterize it. We're going to make it public when they get it delivered to us. But if he would read it, he would know that all the excuses that he's giving us, that he wants to protect sources, and that's important to protect sources but that's not an issue with this document the way I read it and he ought to come

forth. They've got to produce this document. You know they're up against what the Durham report has said about the shortcomings and the political bias of the FBI and this is just one more example of them not being forthcoming to the public because the public's business ought to be public and there's no reason for a non-classified document to be held in secret. Senator, how damning is this document to the sitting US President? Well it's, I don't know that and that's what we need to- But you've read it. I read it. Let I don't know that. And that's what we need to read it.

I read it. Let's put it this way. There's accusations in it, but that's it's not for me to make a judgment about whether these accusations are accurate or not. It's up to my job to make sure the FBI is doing their job. And that's what this is all about. As far as I'm concerned, Public's business ought to be public. So you got, this is this kind of this bio feedback loop,

this echo chamber created by MAGA. They take a false statement, the coma repeats it on Fox News, Chuck Grassley releases it, releases the actual statement, and then has another statement about it. And then it's just this biofeedback loop of BS That that to try to distort the story and lie to the American people. There's no other way to put this so the the reality is is that

Smearnoff was a liar Smearnoff has been caught. He's been indicted. He's gonna be to be extradited from Las Vegas where he's picked up off off a International flight and he's going to be sent to the district of the Central District of California for prosecution But that's not going to stop maga because already Comer has changed his tune and now he says that the Investigation the impeachment investigation into Biden is not, is not based on Smirnov's 1023 report to the FBI. It's based on other bank account information that they received later. We know from the earlier clip I showed you that that's a bald face lie. That is a bald face lie. The entire impeachment proceeding started based on informants lying, informants like this one. Let's show a clip of Comer saying that it's no longer

the relying on the 1023, let's play that clip. Okay, Mr. Abate, I'd like to have you describe for me the process and procedure that the FBI should normally follow when receiving criminal allegations from a trusted FBI source that an office holder engaged in bribery. For example, if the allegations include reference to evidence that would prove or disprove the bribery scheme,

would standard procedure, operating procedure require the FBI to seek out that evidence? Senator, in any instance where we receive information and allegation or a complaint, you know, we apply the standards on the Attorney General guidelines and our, our dialogue and determine whether the information received, the allegation, the complete, or the complaint meets the threshold for the opening of an investigation. We consult appropriately with our field office, with our program management elements at headquarters,

with our office of general counsel, and then we take it from there based on the information, whether it meets the standard. So that's the investigation process that should have been followed with respect to the 1023. Apparently that process wasn't followed for the stake of resorting credibility. The FBI must explain itself sooner rather than

later. So let me bring it home here in this hot take. We've got Alexander Smirnoff having been investigated by the FBI and the special counsel, David Weiss, special counsel for Hunter Biden, but also in doing his job, determined with the FBI that and the grand jury now indicting Alexander Smirnoff for lying about Joe Biden and Hunter Biden claiming that they took $5 million a piece in bribe money from Burisma when they knew or should have known that was totally untrue. In fact, Lev Parnas, who's on the Midas Touch Network as well and a former colleague of Rudy Giuliani who spent a little time in jail himself, went, spent a little time in jail himself. He reports that he had a conversation with the CEO of Burisma, Mikola Zlakevsky. And Zlakevsky told Parnas, he denied everything

that Smirnoff had said. He said there was no intent by Burisma to ever bribe anybody, nor to have an initial public offering. So there's always been information hanging out there in the environment that denies what Smirnov said. That didn't stop MAGA from using it to their advantage. We'll continue to follow even on vacation, matters of importance here on the Midas-Tuch Network at the intersection of law, politics, and justice. And on our show Legal AF, that leading show at the intersection of law, politics, and justice every show Legal AF, that leading show at the intersection of law politics and justice every Saturday, sorry, Wednesday and Saturday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time, and then on audio podcast platforms of your choice. So until my next hot take, until my next Legal AF,

this is Michael Popak reporting. Love this video? Make sure you stay up to date on the latest breaking news and all things Midas by signing up to the Midas Touch Newsletter at MidasTouch.com slash Newsletter.