Ex-FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, charged with lying about Biden family, reaches plea deal

Alexander Smirnov, the former FBI informant who was charged with lying about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden's business dealings, has reached a plea deal with prosecutors from special counsel David Weiss' office, according to a court filing Thursday.

Smirnov was charged in February with making false statements to his FBI handler by concocting "fabrications" about the president and his son accepting $5 million in bribes from the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma -- baseless allegations seized on by Republicans to fuel their now-stalled efforts to impeach President Biden.

Smirnov was set to go to trial this month but that was pushed to January after Weiss' office charged him in a separate indictment alleging that he evaded paying taxes on more than $2 million in income he received from multiple sources between 2020 and 2022.

According to the plea agreement filed Thursday, Smirnov has agreed to plead to Count 2 of his original indictment that charged him with creating a false and fictitious record in a federal investigation, as well as three counts from his indictment returned last month on tax-related charges.

As a result of the deal, Weiss will recommend Smirnov serve at least four years in prison but no more than six years, and pay more than $675,000 in restitution, according to the court filing.

The federal judge overseeing Smirnov's case still has to accept the plea deal for it to be finalized, and can sentence Smirnov to any period of incarceration he deems proper regardless of recommendations by the special counsel.

The resolution of Smirnov's case also clears the way for Weiss to formally wrap up his yearslong investigation that resulted in two separate felony convictions of Hunter Biden, which were tossed last week after the president issued a sweeping pardon of his son.

Upon the closure of Weiss' investigation, DOJ guidelines mandate he deliver a final report to the attorney general.

If the report is delivered prior to the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, Attorney General Merrick Garland has committed to making public as much of the reports from the special counsels he has appointed as possible.