‘Truly Stunning!’ CNN’s Paula Reid and Kaitlan Collins Shocked By Busted Anti-Biden Witness Lies ‘That Could Impact Election’

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins and correspondent Paula Reid were stunned by breaking details of an ex-FBI informant busted for telling lies about President Joe Biden and Hunter Biden “that could impact U.S. elections.”

Special Counsel David Weiss announced Thursday that Alexander Smirnov — a key informant behind the Republican effort to impeach Biden over his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings — has been charged with lying to the FBI.

On Tuesday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Collins broke the news that Smirnov has been freed pending trial, and asked Reid to take her through the “stunning” DOJ filing in the case:

COLLINS: Breaking news, tonight, because the former FBI informant, and I put that in quotes, because he has now been charged with lying about the Bidens’ family — Biden family’s dealings, in Ukraine, now says it was Russian intelligence officials, who passed along that bogus information, to him, about Hunter Biden. A judge, tonight, has just ordered his release from jail pending trial.

CNN caught this video, of Alexander Smirnov, leaving court, in Las Vegas, tonight. It’s hard to see. But yes, that is him, completely covered with a hood, a hat and a mask.

This comes after, earlier today, we read through a new Justice Department filing that says that person there, the ex-informant, told authorities, after he was arrested that he had extensive and extremely recent contacts, with foreign intelligence officials. Remember, of course, this is the man behind the information that House Republicans have used, as the key evidence, to launch their impeachment inquiry, into President Biden. And again, it’s information that is not true. It’s false.

Prosecutors now say that he has been quote, “Actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections.”

CNN’s Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent, Paula Reid, is digging through this remarkable filing, and joins me now.

Paula, I mean, prosecutors, they were trying to disclose this information, to keep him in jail, as he awaited trial. Clearly, the judge has disagreed, and released him under certain conditions.

But walk us through what we did learn, from this filing.

PAULA REID: Kaitlan, this is truly stunning! And I want to emphasize that the source of this information, is Special Counsel, David Weiss. He’s the one, overseeing two criminal prosecutions, against Hunter Biden. He’s also overseeing the Smirnov case.

Now, as you noted, this filing was an effort, to try to keep Smirnov behind — behind bars, detained, pending his trial. That didn’t work. But he still revealed these additional new details, about what they’re learning.

So, they allege that after Smirnov was arrested, last week, because of the lies he told, about Hunter Biden and Joe Biden — Biden allegedly receiving $5 million in bribes. Once he was in custody, he told investigators that some of the information he had, about Hunter Biden, came from Russian intelligence. Now, that is a bombshell.

But I also want to caveat that in this filing, prosecutors don’t have any independent verification of Smirnov’s claims. There is no proof that he did talk to Russian intelligence officials. Though, they do indicate that he has a long record of having contacts with foreign intelligence officials.

Prosecutors also emphasize the impact that his lies have had, on U.S. politics. They say, quote, “The false information he provided was not trivial. It targeted the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties in the United States. The effects of Smirnov’s false statements and fabricated information continue to be felt to this day.”

That appears to be a reference, of course, to the GOP effort, to impeach Biden, much of that resting on what the DOJ says are lies.

But Kaitlan, it was interesting, just a short time ago, a judge dismissed these concerns about politics, saying that they’re not relevant, and also said that these concerns, about foreign intelligence interference are, quote, speculative. COLLINS: But well, I mean, that’s interesting, because what the Justice Department was saying, Paula, was basically they had real concerns, about his contacts with those Russians, and what it could mean if he got out. I mean, they were talking about how much money he had, which they said he lied about–

REID: Yes.

COLLINS: –when he was arrested. They were talking about his access to get an Israeli passport. He lived in Israel, for 20 years. They had real concerns that he could be a flight risk.

REID: Absolutely. They were arguing that there were no conditions, under which he could be safely released. They pointed three things. One, his access to millions of dollars, his web of foreign contacts, and his history of lying.

As you noted, he lied about how much money he had. He said he only had a couple grand, when in fact he actually had access to millions of dollars, through a joint account, with someone he refers to as both a wife and a girlfriend, in different — in different conversations.

But they also point to the fact that he doesn’t really have any ties, here in the U.S. Most of his family is in Israel. And they say, quote, “What he does have is extensive foreign ties, including, most troublingly and by his own account, contact with foreign intelligence services, including Russian intelligence agencies, and has had such contacts recently. Smirnov could use these contacts to resettle outside” the U.S.

Now, he will be subject to GPS monitoring. He has to hand in his two passports. But in the filing, prosecutors say, look, he’s an Israeli citizen, he can go to the embassy, and get a new Israeli passport.

COLLINS: Paula Reid, it is a stunning filing. Thank you for breaking the key parts of it down.

Watch above via CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.