Alexander Smirnov, the Russian intelligence-connected disinformation agent the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees have relied on as their chief witness in the impeachment investigation of President Joe Biden, was arrested at his lawyer’s office on a warrant from the Central Federal Judicial District of California declaring him a flight risk from prosecution on multiple counts of lying to the FBI.

Smirnov had been spreading the years-old lie that the Bidens, both father and son, had each taken five million dollar bribes to protect a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, from being charged by a Ukrainian prosecutor who had already been fired for corruption unrelated to either Burisma or the Bidens. In other words, Smirnov’s allegation was that the Bidens were bribed by Burisma for exactly nothing.

Committee chairmen Rep. James Comer (R-KY) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) made statements on Wednesday that their impeachment investigation will proceed because the lies told by Smirnov to the FBI about the Bidens had no bearing on the “facts” of their inquiry.

Yesterday, the FBI document with Smirnov’s lies about the Bidens that House Republicans have had on their list of evidence supporting Biden’s impeachment disappeared from the committee’s website.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden’s brother James appeared before staff impeachment investigators from the Oversight and Judiciary Committees on Wednesday. Here is what he told them: “I have had a 50-year career in a variety of business ventures. Joe Biden has never had any involvement or any direct or indirect financial interest in those activities. None. I never asked my brother to take any official action on behalf of me, my business associates, or anyone else.”

As new House impeachment committee spokesperson Emily Litella put it to the press late yesterday afternoon, “Never mind.”

Lucian K. Truscott IV, a graduate of West Point, has had a 50-year career as a journalist, novelist, and screenwriter. He has covered Watergate, the Stonewall riots, and wars in Lebanon, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He is also the author of five bestselling novels. You can subscribe to his daily columns at luciantruscott.substack.com and follow him on Twitter @LucianKTruscott and on Facebook at Lucian K. Truscott IV.

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