GOP's indicted key witness was known to be a 'liar and fraudster' in 2016: report

The Republicans' impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden was dealt a serious blow last month when FBI informant Alexander Smirnov was arrested and charged with lying to federal investigators about the president and his son.

However, a new report from CBS News claims that there was good reason for Republicans to have been skeptical of Smirnov's claims even before his arrest.

According to CBS News, "Federal prosecutors were put on notice as far back as 2016" that Smirnov was what one source described as a "liar and a fraudster" who had already been accused of fabricating evidence in an entirely separate court case.

Joseph Benincasa, a defense lawyer in the 2016 case that featured Smirnov as a witness, told CBS News that he struggled to understand why Smirnov remained in apparently good standing with the FBI afterward.

"Having seen how much he lies, it's kind of surprising that he has been able to do it for as long as he has without anyone in the government stopping him," he said. "They never should have used him again... it's shocking."

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Former Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Bromwich told CBS News that revelations about Smirnov could trigger massive headaches for the DOJ in terms of past cases that hinged on his credibility as a witness.

"I think a review has to be done, either internally by the FBI or, more advisedly, by the department to find out not only what happened here, but whether there is a systemic problem in the... supervision of informants," he said.

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) last month also called for the DOJ to review its history of working with Smirnov, and he suggested that investigators had left themselves vulnerable for falling for foreign intelligence operations as "part of a deliberate attempt to launder foreign disinformation through the Department of Justice."