M.L. Nestel joined Raw Story in 2023. An award-winning writer and editor, his work has been published in New York Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine and The Guardian, among other titles. He also produces and writes for true-crime genre TV shows. Prior to that, he served on the Newsweek masthead as a senior writer, wrote as a correspondent at ABC News and held the titles of West Coast bureau chief and senior writer at The Daily Beast. Priors also include working as senior national correspondent at The Daily Mail and investigative reporter at all three NYC tabloids: The New York Post,The New York Daily News and Newsday. He traveled around the country as a national correspondent at The Daily. M.L. published hundreds of stories about underground music and cinema — most notably as a critic for Box Office Magazine and the New York editor at Soma Magazine. He also headed development at Fountainhead Films. M.L. splits his time between Los Angeles and New York.
The case charging Hunter Biden with engaging in a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme suffered a massive blow after the informant central to the case and to the Republican impeachment inquiry in Congress — was slapped with allegations of lying to the FBI.
"I think it eviscerates the impeachment effort," former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Elliot Williams said during an appearance on CNN. "And any evidence linking current President Biden to wrongdoing was pretty thin to begin with."
Smirnov in fact had only routine business dealings with the company and made the bribery allegations after he “expressed bias” against Joe Biden, prosecutors said in court documents.
On Wednesday the 43-year-old was hit with charges of making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record.
Smirnov was arriving from overseas to Las Vegas where he was reportedly arrested and is expected to make his first appearance.
Prosecutors allege in the indictment against Smirnov that one executive claimed to have hired Hunter Biden to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems."
With Smirnov's testimony potentially tainted, Williams submits that it leaves the case against Hunter and company weakened.
"But if people had any evidence they could come forward with and substantiate it, by all means, bring it. That's how law enforcement works."
He added: "The simple fact here is that not only was this the basis for Burisma, but a lot of people relied on it and we're not giving speeches which isn't statements about it and it really all just falls apart."
Also, Williams wonders what will become of the case now that it's lion share of evidence against Hunter Biden and his president father Joe Biden is severely undermined.
As far as the case in court and also in the political arena anyhow it moves forward, Williams said he wants to see "what the folks on the Hill do with it now" because he contends, "literally your star witness, his testimony has been completely discredited by by law enforcement."
