Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) doubled down on his assertion that House Republicans will continue their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, even though the FBI informant they relied on for information was charged Thursday with lying about the case.

The indictment alleged that 43-year-old Alexander Smirnov “provided false derogatory information to the FBI about Public Official 1 [Joe Biden], and Businessperson 1 [Hunter Biden], the son of Public Official 1, in 2020, after Public Official 1 became a presidential candidate.”

On Meet The Press Sunday, Turner referred to Smirnov as a “business associate of the Biden family,” prompting anchor Kristen Welker to clarify that wasn’t necessarily true.

Welker began by confronting Turner with the allegations that the informant was compromised.

“A former FBI informant has been charged with lying about Joe and Hunter Biden seeking millions of dollars in bribes from a Ukrainian company — allegations that are really central to Republicans’ efforts to impeach the president. Now, you voted to support this impeachment inquiry. Do you think it’s responsible to continue this inquiry given the charges against this FBI informant?” Welker asked.

Turner, who is chair of the House Intelligence Committee, didn’t hesitate in his answer.

“Absolutely. This inquiry — and it is an inquiry — is based upon is based upon actual bank records, documents, transactions of money — large sums of money. Doing an inquiry into how these funds got to the Biden family from international sources China, Russia, Ukraine — that is certainly an issue that Congress needs to take up, and I think the investigation will continue,” he said.

Welker pushed Turner on the rationale for continuing the inquiry if the FBI informant proves to be corrupt:

“But Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan said just a few weeks ago that the most corroborating evidence comes from this informant’s allegations, and that they are at the heart of the impeachment case. Even before that, Sen. Lindsay Graham said to me, ‘There’s no smoking gun.’ So, can you justify continuing with this impeachment inquiry?”

Once again, Turner asserted that Congress will continue until the investigation “reaches its natural conclusion.”

He continued, “But I’m not surprised at all that a business associate of the Biden family might be untruthful. But we’ll have to continue to see what the bank records, the transactions, tell how that story unfolds, and I believe that Chairman [James] Comer’s doing a great job in this.”

Welker then corrected Turner’s claim that the informant was, in fact, the Bidens’ “business associate.”

“Just to be clear,” she said, “he was an FBI informant, not necessarily an associate [of the Bidens].”

House Oversight Chair James Comer released a statement following Smirnov’s arrest, saying that the impeachment inquiry did not rely solely on Smirnov’s testimony.

“It is based on a large record of evidence, including bank records and witness testimony, revealing that Joe Biden knew of and participated in his family’s business dealings,” Comer told CNN.

Watch the clip above via NBC News.

The post NBC’s Kristen Welker Checks Bizarre Claim from House Republican That Indicted FBI Informant Was a Biden ‘Business Associate’ first appeared on Mediaite.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/W2Y3xzM