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Hey, good morning. I'm Playbook Deputy Editor Zach Stanton. It is Friday, February 16th,

and there's a lot of legal news driving the day. First off, here's something House Republicans

aren't going to be eager to discuss.

Yesterday, Alexander Smyranov, a 43-year-old FBI informant, was charged with lying to the

bureau, feeding his handler false information about ties between President Joe Biden, his son Hunter,

and Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Specifically, he falsely told agents that the company paid the Biden's $5 million each

in 2015 or 2016, and that an executive with the company claimed to have hired Hunter

to, quote, protect us through his dad from all kinds of problems, unquote.

Now, if that sounds familiar, there's a reason why.

Last summer, when House Republicans set about trying to impeach President Biden, these claims

landed in the Capitol like a flash grenade, spurring Republicans to demand the FBI release,

the unredacted forms, detailing the allegations.

Then Speaker Kevin McCarthy even referenced it when he announced

the impeachment inquiry, saying that, quote, a trusted FBI informant has alleged a bribe to the

Biden family. Now, it turns out it was all made up, which is why David Weiss, the special

counsel who has charged Hunter Biden with gun and tax violations, filed charges against Smyrnav on Thursday that carry a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.

Meanwhile, from New York, an invitation to mark your calendars.

We have an official start date for Donald Trump's hush money trial in Manhattan.

It'll begin on March 25th, which is

five weeks from this coming Monday. Fun fact, it's likely that by that point, Trump will have

effectively clinched the Republican presidential nomination. But by far the day's biggest

...