In an interview Lev Parnas, a known associate of President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Guliani, gave on CNN with Anderson Cooper he called the president a liar and describes multiple Ukraine quid pro quos.
Parnas states that he’s thankful he was able to get all the information out there and if Trump or any of his supporters in Congress or the Senate refute his claims he has more evidence to prove otherwise. This interview comes after Parnas began cooperating with investigators and provided a treasure trove of documents, messages, and detailed information about the plot to squeeze Ukraine for an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden.
Parnas also unequivocally states that President Trump was directly involved in the effort to pressure Ukraine into announcing an investigation into the Biden’s related to the Ukrainian gas company Burisma.
Part of the new information released details how former U.S. Ambassador to the Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch was under illegal surveillance near the end of her time serving in that role. Ukrainian police have even opened an investigation into that possibility.
The announcement came two days after Democratic lawmakers released the documents provided by Parnas, which show communications about the removal of Yovanovitch as ambassador.
A statement made by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, Ukrainian police “are not interfering in the internal political affairs of the United States.”
“However, the published messages contain facts of possible violations of Ukrainian law and of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations, which protect the rights of diplomats on the territory of another state,” the statement continued.
The Interior Ministry also said it has invited the FBI to take part in the investigation.
In addition to an investigation being opened on whether illegal surveillance was indeed taking place, and by whom, within Ukraine another investigation is being launched related to reports that Russian hackers gained access to computers of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma.
If what Parnas is saying turns out to be true, based on legitimate irrefutable facts, then key aspects of the Republican defense of Trump will surely unravel. The key defense being that Trump’s withholding of critical military aid to Ukraine last summer wasn’t a quid pro quo for an announcement of investigations into Joe and Hunter Biden.
If true, his account undercuts a key Republican defense of the president during the impeachment investigation – that Trump’s withholding of vital military aid to Ukraine last summer wasn’t a quid pro quo for Biden investigations.
