Right-wing media relentlessly pushed anti-Biden conspiracy theories tied to indicted FBI informant

Right-wing media eagerly spread the claims of a man who has now been arrested and indicted for lying to the FBI, promoting them in their rush to build a narrative of Biden family corruption.

Alexander Smirnov, a longtime FBI informant who now claims to have connections to Russian intelligence, allegedly falsely told the FBI that Hunter Biden and President Joe Biden were given multimillion-dollar bribes by Ukrainian energy company Burisma. This claim formed a basis for a yearslong criminal investigation into Hunter Biden and has been repeatedly cited by Republicans and their right-wing media allies to justify opening a baseless impeachment investigation into President Biden. After his arrest, Smirnov reportedly told investigators that Russian intelligence operatives had passed him information about Hunter Biden and that they planned to influence the 2024 elections.

Smirnov’s arrest comes after right-wing media spent months painting the now-indicted informant as a reliable source. Such commentary came from John Solomon, Sean Hannity, and Rudy Giuliani, who have all been central to spreading bribery conspiracy theories about Joe and Hunter Biden.