Ex-FBI informant charged with lying about Bidens must remain jailed, appeals court rules

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected a bid to release from jail a former FBI informant who is charged with fabricating a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden’s family.

Alexander Smirnov ‘s lawyers had urged the California-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a lower court judge’s order that the man remain behind bars while he awaits trial.

But a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit said the lower court was right to conclude Smirnov is a flight risk and there are no conditions of release that would reasonably assure he shows up in court.

The appeals court also denied Smirnov’s request for temporary release, which his lawyers had pressed for so he could undergo eye surgery for glaucoma.

Smirnov was arrested in February on charges accusing him of falsely telling his FBI handler that executives from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma had paid President Biden and Hunter Biden $5 million each around 2015. The claim became central to the Republican impeachment inquiry of President Biden in Congress.

Smirnov has pleaded not guilty.

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