Lawyer: Yes, prez could kill scot-free
President Trump and Rudy Giuliani were dragged deeper into a sleazy campaign finance scheme involving two of the ex-mayor’s pals Wednesday, as an attorney suggested “sensitive” information in the case may implicate the White House.
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who worked with Giuliani on the Ukraine scandal at the heart of the impeachment inquiry, pleaded not guilty in Manhattan Federal Court to charges that they funneled $350,000 in illegal straw donations to a proTrump political committee, and another $20,000 to former GOP Rep. Pete Sessions while acting on behalf of at least one Ukrainian government official.
Investigators have collected a “voluminous” cache of evidence, Assistant U.S. attorney Rebekah Donaleski said in the courtroom, including information on 50 bank accounts, emails, texts and electronic devices.
After the two men entered their pleas, Edward MacMahon, an attorney for Parnas, said some of that information could be protected by attorney-client privilege as it relates to Giuliani and executive privilege as it relates to Trump. The mention marked the first time Trump and Giuliani have been called out by name in the case.
“I’m not in any position to assert executive privilege,” MacMahon said, “but these are issues we need to be very sensitive to.”
U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken appeared stunned and asked MacMahon to clarify how executive privilege could be involved, as Parnas hadn’t worked for the president.
MacMahon said the privilege could apply because Parnas worked for Giuliani — an apparent reference to his participating in the ex-mayor’s dubious bid to find dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine. Giuliani, in turn, served as Trump’s personal attorney.
Further muddying the case, Giuliani at one point acted as an attorney for Parnas, MacMahon said. “It’s very complicated,” he said.
Donaleski said prosecutors were “aware” of the issues raised by MacMahon and suggested that will be dealt with by a “filter team” that determines what evidence is offlimits for prosecutors. The next hearing is scheduled for Dec. 2.
Giuliani — who’s under investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan over his potential role in the ParnasFruman
case — did not return requests for comment and neither did Jay Sekulow, one of Trump’s personal attorneys.
Parnas, 47, and Fruman, 53, were each released on $1 million bond. They are subject to home confinement and GPS monitoring, and have surrendered their passports.
Parnas, walking out of the courtroom with his wife, gave a brief statement proclaiming his innocence, his first public remarks since being arrested with Fruman on Oct. 9 at a Virginia airport with one-way tickets to Vienna.
“Many false statements have been said about me and my family,” Parnas said, reading from a piece of paper. “I look forward to defending myself vigorously in court, and I’m certain that in time truth will be revealed and I will be vindicated. In the end, I put my faith in God.”
He didn’t take any questions and was whisked away in a black SUV after making his statement.
In addition to the straw donations, the Parnas-Fruman case involves a separate campaign finance scheme in which they worked with two other men, David Correia and Andrey Kukushkin. Prosecutors say the quartet used an unidentified Russian’s money to donate as much as $2 million to politicians across the U.S. in an effort to launch a retail marijuana business in multiple states beginning in 2018.
Correia and Kukushkin pleaded not guilty last week.
Parnas and Fruman have been subpoenaed in the House impeachment inquiry, which is zeroing in on Trump’s attempts to pressure Ukrainian officials to investigate Biden and other political opponents before the 2020 election.
The two men’s criminal case intersects with the impeachment probe.
Prosecutors say Parnas and Fruman worked on behalf of an unnamed Ukrainian official when they lobbied then-Texas Rep. Sessions to push for the ouster of U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
Yovanovitch testified in the impeachment inquiry earlier this month that she was booted from her post in May after opposing Giuliani’s attempts to pressure Ukrainian officials to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter, over baseless corruption accusations.
President Trump actually could “stand in the middle of Fifth Ave. and shoot somebody” and not face criminal prosecution, his attorney argued Wednesday, claiming the Oval Office entitled him to immunity from even that crime.
The stunning claim came during an hour of arguments in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals over Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.’s request for eight years of Trump’s tax returns. The three appeals judges made their skepticism of Trump’s broad arguments for immunity clear through their questions and body language.
Carey Dunne, an attorney in Vance’s office, criticized Trump’s expansive view of his presidential powers and cited Trump’s famous line during the 2016 campaign about shooting someone on Fifth Ave. and not losing supporters.
“If he did pull out a handgun and shoot someone on Fifth Ave … would the local police be restrained?” Dunne asked.
“Would we have to wait for impeachment?”
Judge Denny Chin then proposed the question to Trump attorney William Consovoy.
“What’s your view on the Fifth Ave. example?” Chin asked.
“Once a president is removed from office” he could be charged, Consovoy replied.
“Nothing could be done? That’s your position?” Chin asked.
“That is correct,” Consovoy replied.
Earlier this month Judge Victor Marrero ruled that Trump’s taxes were fair game and called the president’s expansive immunity arguments “repugnant.”
Appeals Judge Robert Katzmann said he was confident the case would end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Vance is probing Trump’s hush money payments during the 2016 campaign and how they were documented by the Trump Organization. Trump sued to block his accounting firm, Mazars USA, from complying with Vance’s subpoena for the tax returns. Vance’s demand for documents is on hold while the lawsuit proceeds.