Who is Lev Parnas, and how does he tie into the impeachment trial?
It’s been a busy 24 hours for Lev Parnas, an otherwise obscure Ukraine-born businessman who is suddenly at the center of President Donald Trump’s impeachment.
Parnas sat down for high-profile interviews on Wednesday with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and CNN host Anderson Cooper. During those interviews, which aired on Wednesday night and will continue Thursday, Parnas said the president knew about a Ukrainian scheme headed by Rudy Giuliani to obtain dirt on potential 2020 political rival Joe Biden.
Here’s everything we know about Parnas, highlights of what he told Maddow and Cooper, and how it might impact Trump’s upcoming Senate impeachment trial. Q: Who is Lev Parnas? A: Parnas is a businessman who was born in Odessa, Ukraine, in 1972 when it was part of the Soviet Union. Parnas emigrated to the United States with his family when he was three years old and is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He reportedly played a key role aiding Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney and the former mayor of New York City, in a scheme to pressure Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who sat on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company.
Prior to his work with Giuliani, Parnas was a businessman in Florida, with the Miami Herald reporting he “left a long trail of debts in Florida and beyond.” He is currently under indictment, and has pleaded not guilty to largely unrelated campaign finance charges that he funneled money from foreign entities to U.S. political candidates. Q: What was Parnas’ role in Ukraine? A: Parnas and his partner, Igor Furman (who is also under indictment), reportedly helped set up meetings for Giuliani with Ukrainian officials in an attempt to discredit Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on 2016 election interference and to dig up dirt on Biden, the Democratic front-runner to challenge Trump’s re-election in 2020.
Claiming he worked under Guiliani’s direction, Parnas said his goal was to convince Ukraine to announce an investigation into Biden, and claimed part of the pressure campaign was the threat to cut off all aid to Ukraine – not just the security aid authorized by Congress. Q: What did Parnas tell Rachel Maddow and Anderson Cooper? A: Though Parnas said he never spoke with Trump directly, he told Maddow that he “wouldn’t do anything without the consent of Rudy Giuliani or the president.” He also said the only reason he gained access to political leaders in Ukraine was because he was working on behalf of Giuliani and Trump.
Parnas also claimed that Vice President Mike Pence was also involved in the scheme, telling Maddow a planned trip Kyiv for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy’s inauguration was canceled because of their refusal to publicly announce an investigation into Biden.
Q: How does Lev Parnas fit into President Trump’s impeachment
A: Parnas said he would be willing to testify in the upcoming Senate trial, and told Cooper he and former National Security Adviser John Bolton “could fill in all the dots.” Bolton has also said he would testify if subpoenaed by the Senate, but it remains unclear if Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell will allow any witnesses to testify during the trial, which is expected to begin next week.