Tag: Lev Parnas

Rudy GIuliani’s Bagman Lev Parnas Blows Up Trump’s Ukraine Defense

Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, was up bright and early on Thursday morning to try to spin the remarkable interview that MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow did on Wednesday night with Lev Parnas, one of Rudy Giuliani’s bagmen in the effort to extort the government of Ukraine into digging up dirt on Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Parnas claimed that Donald Trump “knew exactly what was going on,” and he also implicated Vice-President Mike Pence. “This is a man who is under indictment and who’s actually out on bail,” Grisham said on Fox & Friends, Donald Trump’s favorite morning show. “This is a man who owns a company called Fraud Inc. . . . We’re not too concerned about it. We know that everything in the Senate is going to be fair.”

The first part of what Grisham said was correct. After being arrested in October as he prepared to board a flight to Vienna, Parnas, a forty-seven-year-old Soviet émigré who grew up in Brooklyn, was charged with four counts of violating campaign-finance laws by trying to hide the source of political donations that originated in Russia. Campaign-finance records show that he listed his employer as Fraud Guarantee, a Florida company that, according to its Web site, helps people “reduce the risk of fraud as well as mitigate the damage caused by fraudulent acts.”

This was just one of many business ventures with which Parnas, who has lived in Florida for many years, has been associated. Others involved stockbroking, bullion dealing, and film production. After Parnas was arrested, the Miami Herald described him as a “former stock broker who has left a long trail of debts in Florida and beyond.” The wife of one of his debtors, who is pursuing a legal judgement of five hundred thousand dollars against him, told the Herald, “He financially ruined us.”  Continue reading.

Pompeo says he ‘never heard’ about any efforts to surveil Yovanovitch

The Hill logoSecretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday said he was not aware of any surveillance of Marie Yovanovitch during her time in Kyiv as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, his first public comments on allegations that associates of Rudy Giuliani surveilled the career diplomat as they pushed for her removal.

“I never heard about this at all,” Pompeo said in an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt when asked if he was aware that Yovanovitch was being surveilled.

Pompeo said he was only aware of the suggestion that the ambassador was being followed after the release of text messages describing the effort, released this week by the House Intelligence Committee as part of evidence in the impeachment trial against President Trump.  Continue reading.

New text messages put Devin Nunes on the hot seat

Washington Post logoA month ago, when phone records showed contact between Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and Lev Parnas, Nunes said he didn’t recall Parnas’s name and couldn’t confirm the call. On Wednesday, with Parnas about to appear on TV for the first time, Nunes suddenly offered a (very conveniently timed) confirmation, but he downplayed the call as being about “random things.”

Now, Nunes’s claims about his ties to Parnas are even more questionable.

Newly released documents Friday night showed Parnas in repeated contact with a Nunes aide, Derek Harvey. He appeared to be looping Harvey into the Ukraine effort led by Rudolph W. Giuliani, and the messages show the three of them met at the Trump hotel in Washington. Parnas also set up calls for Harvey with the same Ukrainian prosecutors who were working with Giuliani. Continue reading.

Rick Santorum flattened by CNN’s Berman after calling Parnas bombshell revelations ‘extraneous’ to impeachment

AlterNet logoRick Santorum and CNN’s John Berman got into a frantic back-and-forth on Friday morning after the former Republican senator attempted to dismiss the revelations by former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas as something that should not be submitted as evidence in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump.

Discussing the Senate trial expected to start next week, Santorum said the only testimony and witnesses that should be allowed are ones that came up in the earlier House hearings.

“The House’s responsibility to bring to us a case,” Santorum stated. “They’re the one who is said these are offenses that are worthy of the president being removed from office; here is the record, here are the charges. The Senate didn’t impeach, the House did, so we are going to look at the record the House presented us. We’re going to look at the witnesses and say are there are questions that we have for the people that brought this case forward and relied on these witnesses and look at their testimony.” Continue reading.

The Trump team keeps denying it knows Lev Parnas, despite growing photographic evidence

Washington Post logoPresident Trump has made a habit of distancing himself from people in his orbit — often in dubious ways — when they suddenly turn out to be inconvenient.

But when it comes to Lev Parnas, he’s not the only one.

Over the past 24 hours or so, several top Republicans have had their statements about their personal familiarity with Parnas called into question. Continue reading.

Here’s what the Parnas revelations mean for Trump

What’s Lev Parnas up to? How strong is his new evidence? Are there more bombshells coming?

Lev Parnas, the indicted Rudy Giuliani associate at the center of the Ukraine controversy, has disrupted the days leading up to President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.

With a slate of newly released documents from House investigators and round of TV interviews, Parnas and his attorney have offered remarkable — if true — details about just how far Trump and his allies were willing to go to dig up dirt on the president’s potential 2020 rival, Joe Biden.

Text exchanges show potential surveillance of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch. Digital chats reveal Ukraine’s former prosecutor general, Yuriy Lutsenko, dangling dirt on Biden in exchange for Yovanovitch’s firing. And Parnas has alleged he was acting at the behest of the president. Continue reading.

Former federal prosecutor recommends AG Barr ‘retain a criminal defense attorney’ after Parnas bombshells

AlterNet logoRudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas, who is facing federal campaign finance charges, has been outspoken about the Ukraine scandal this week — granting interviews to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and CNN’s Anderson Cooper and discussing Giuliani’s efforts to get the Ukrainian government to officially announce an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Parnas has not only discussed President Donald Trump and Giuliani’s roles in the Ukraine scandal, but also, Attorney General William Barr’s. And according to former federal prosecutor Gene Rossi, Barr would do well to consult a defense attorney.

On Twitter, Rossi posted, “Based on the allegation of Lev Parnas, our esteemed Attorney General should probably retain a criminal defense attorney. What a conspiracy to bribe mess. Is our country’s AG the second coming of disgraced former AG John Mitchell? Crazy times.”

The late John N. Mitchell served as U.S. attorney General under President Richard Nixon. In 1974 — the year after Nixon resigned as president — Mitchell was found guilty of obstruction of justice, conspiracy and perjury for his role in the Watergate scandal. Mitchell served 19 months in federal prison. Continue reading.

Devin Nunes vows to sue fellow congressman after allegation he ‘conspired with Parnas’

AlterNet logoRep. Devin Nunes was outed by Rudy Giuliani’s associate Lev Parnas in an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Wednesday.

In the conversation, Parnas explained that he and Nunes didn’t have much of a relationship until he was told to work with Nunes’ aide Derek Harvey.

“We met several times at the Trump Hotel, but our relationship started getting — basically where it expanded was when I was introduced to his aide, Derek Harvey, and the reason why Derek Harvey I was told because Devin Nunes had an ethics — something to do with the Ethics Committee, he couldn’t be in the spotlight. He was kind of shunned a little bit and that he was looking into this Ukraine stuff also, wanted to help out. And they gave me Derek Harvey to deal with,” said Parnas. Continue reading.

Presidential historian explains why Lev Parnas’ Ukraine allegations will be ‘the real test’ for Senate Republicans

AlterNet logoThis week, Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas gave two bombshell cable news interviews — one with Rachel Maddow for MSNBC, one with Anderson Cooper for CNN. And in both interviews, Parnas laid out a compelling case for removing President Donald Trump from office via his impeachment trial. Presidential historian Jon Meacham, appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Thursday morning, agreed that Maddow’s interview with Parnas  was quite damning of Trump — and he stressed that how Senate Republicans respond to Parnas’ assertions will speak volumes about their integrity, or lack thereof.

Parnas, speaking to Maddow, made it clear that Trump and his supporters demanded an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — and in return for that investigation, Ukraine would get military aid.

Making a Watergate/Ukraine scandal comparison, Meacham told hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski that during the Summer of 1974, more and more Republicans in Congress were turning against President Richard Nixon. That summer, Meacham recalled, many “Republican partisans” — including Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater — were willing to act “in the national interest” rather than sticking by Nixon simply because he was a Republican. But Meacham is extremely skeptical that Parnas’ assertions will sway the Senate Republicans of 2020. Continue reading.

4 takeaways from the Lev Parnas interview and revelations

Washington Post logoLev Parnas has leaped to the center of the impeachment of President Trump, with House Democrats releasing a series of documents from Parnas that detail his work with Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and Ukrainian officials. Parnas also spoke with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Wednesday night, during an interview in which he lodged some explosive allegations that have yet to be substantiated.

Below, some takeaways.

1. Ukraine knew this was about hitting Biden, not ‘corruption’

On Tuesday night, we got documents that indicated there was an early quid pro quo between Parnas and then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko. During the administration of Volodymyr Zelensky’s predecessor, then-President Petro Poroshenko, Parnas and Lutsenko tied information about Hunter Biden and Burisma Holdings to the removal of then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, whom Lutsenko wanted out. Continue reading.