Lev Parnas, a key player in President Trump’s efforts to obtain a Ukrainian investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, gave a bombshell interview to MSNBC Wednesday that undercut the president’s defense just hours before the Senate was scheduled to begin his impeachment trial.
Parnas, a Soviet-born U.S. citizen who has been indicted by the Southern District of New York on campaign finance violations, turned over notes, text messages and other information to House investigators Wednesday. In his interview with Rachel Maddow, Parnas, who sat beside his lawyer, said he came forward because “I want to get the truth out because I think it’s important to the country, it’s important to me.”
Trump has sought to distance himself from Parnas and Igor Fruman, both of whom worked with Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s lawyer, on the efforts to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce an investigation of the Bidens, and on the campaign to oust U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.
