No idea what he means.
Not sure if this is detailed in the indictment or not, but the DOJ and FBI had been suspicious of Smirnov for a while. One thing that made Barr and his team suspicious was inconsistency in his reports to his handler...
In 2017 when Biden was out of office, Smirnov had informed his handler that Burisma was interested in entering US markets thru an IPO offering.That's all he said, no other comment. He made periodic reports over the next 3 years, but nothing regarding Burisma.
Then suddenly in 2020 after Biden had become a candidate for POTUS, he out of nowhere comes forward with the claim that in a meeting with Burisma exces they told him about the $5 million bribe to get Shokin off their backs. But Barr was immediately suspicious for among other reasons that he didn't report this "blockbuster news" at any meeting with his handler between 2017 and 2020. Yet IIRC, he claimed he had been given that news at a meeting in 2017.
He also had ties to Putin. In fact Barr concluded that he was likely spreading Russian disinfo. They didn't have any proof at the time, but they didn't place any real credence in the claims.That's why the FBI was reluctant to even release the DF 1023, and why they only did so after Comer Pyle threatened Wray (another Republican) with contempt.
Lev Parnas who was in charge of Trump's fishing expedition in Ukraine 2019-2020 and had personally met with both Shokin and Zlochevsky reported back in 2020 that there was no evidence to support the DF 1023. He testified before the (GOP) Senate committee in the spring off 2020 that was charged with investigating "Biden's corruption" in Ukraine. They had launched the investigation as an attempt to help Trump, but they never uncovered anything resembling evidence...
The thing is that earlier this summer Parnas sent a 10 page letter to Comer telling him that his "impeachment" was a wild goose chase.He spelled out in detail what he knew from working in Ukraine for Trump/Giuliani. He told him the DF 1023 was fake, and offered to testify in person before Comer's committee. Comer ignored the letter and when pressed by Dems on why he wouldn't want Parnas to testify Comer said that Parnas and his info were "irrelative to the case"...
Hey with Trump breathing his sweaty breath down your back and when you're desperate to get your 30 secs of fame, what's a guy to do? Smirnov, and the earlier Chinese-Iran agent (who coincidentally also had an Israeli passport) were his aces in the hole. I doubt he'll fold sensibly, he's all in so he'll bluff as long as he can...
Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian businessman, said there has never been any evidence that the president or his son Hunter interfered with Ukraine's politics, "only conspiracy theories."
www.nbcnews.com