Ex-FBI Informant Charged Over ‘False Claims’ in Biden Bribery Probe Must Remain Jailed: Appeals Court

A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected efforts by lawyers to secure the release of former FBI agent Alexander Smirnov, who claimed that President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, engaged in a bribery scheme in Ukraine.

Lawyers for Mr. Smirnov had called on the California-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a lower court judge’s order that he stay behind bars ahead of his upcoming trial, which is scheduled to take place on April 23 in Los Angeles, CNN reports.

However, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit ruled Wednesday that the lower court judge’s order was correct in concluding that the ex-FBI agent posed a flight risk.

There were no conditions of release that could reasonably assure he would not leave the country and would instead show up to court, the judges said.

Elsewhere, the appeals court denied a request by Mr. Smirnov’s lawyers that he be released temporarily so that he could undergo eye surgery for glaucoma.

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