After a strenuous attempt to salvage the Republicans’ faltering impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, Ohio Representative Jim Jordan finally admitted on Friday that Alexander Smirnov’s account might not be entirely truthful.
“I don’t know, maybe the guy did lie,” Jordan conceded at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday.
Throughout the week, the House Judiciary chair had worked tirelessly to manipulate Smirnov’s testimony, maintaining, as he had done for months, that Smirnov’s allegations – namely, that Biden had profited millions from a business deal involving his son and the Ukrainian company Burisma – still carried weight and could serve as a credible basis for charging the sitting president.
This stance persisted even after Smirnov was indicted for lying to the FBI about these claims, and subsequent reports indicated that he had confessed to prosecutors that the entire narrative was fabricated with the assistance of top Russian intelligence officials.
"Maybe the guy did lie" — Jim Jordan on the arrested FBI informant. #RINO pic.twitter.com/TFhDbJFzKm
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 23, 2024
Despite these revelations, Jordan could not entirely abandon the theory at CPAC on Friday. Instead, he endeavored to shift focus from the beleaguered investigation by asserting that the Department of Justice was applying a double standard by arresting Smirnov for providing false information.
“But there sure is quite a contrast for – Christopher Steele can give false information about President Trump, and he continues to get paid. This guy, Mr. Smirnov, can give false information – what they’ve said is false information – and he gets arrested,” Jordan remarked, referencing former British spy Christopher Steele and his controversial dossier containing raw intelligence on Trump’s alleged connections to the Russian government.
Trump and his allies have sought to portray the dossier as the impetus for Trump’s impeachment inquiry. However, in reality, it was a memo from a Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee (on which Jordan has served since 2019) regarding former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos that spurred an FBI investigation.
Jordan’s acknowledgment also comes two days after Representative Ken Buck disclosed that both Jordan and House Oversight Chair James Comer had been forewarned that the story put forth by their primary witness was riddled with inconsistencies.
“Clearly, this witness – and we were cautioned when we received the document outlining this witness’s testimony – we were cautioned that the credibility of this statement was in question,” Buck informed Kaitlin Collins during an appearance on CNN’s The Source.
