In an interview tonight with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Lev Parnas asserted that President Donald Trump was fully aware of the efforts to dig up potentially damaging information on former Vice-President Joseph Biden to help his re-election.
Maddow asked Parnas, “What do you think is the main inaccuracy, the main lie being told that you feel like you can correct?”
Parnas said, “That the president didn’t know what was going on. President Trump knew exactly what was going on. He was aware of all of my movements. I wouldn’t do anything without the consent of Rudy Giuliani or the president.”
In the interview Parnas also implicated Congressman Devin Nunes in the scandal.
The following is a transcript of Maddow’s interview tonight with Parnas concerning Nunes
Rachel Maddow: Do you know Congressman Devin Nunes?
Parnas: Yes I do
Maddow: And what is your relationship with him?
Parnas: We don’t have too much of a relationship. We met several times at the Trump Hotel. But our relationship got expanded when I was introduced to his aid, Derek Harvey (retired US Army Colonel who currently serves on the staff of Congressman Devin Nunes.) The reason why Derek Harvey was more involved was because, was told Devin Nunes had just, had an ethics, something to do with the ethics committee and he could not be in the spotlight. He was kind of shunned a little bit. He was looking into this Ukraine stuff also and wanted to help out. They gave me Derek Harvey to deal with.
Rachel Maddow: You told Mr. Harvey what you were working on in Ukraine, trying to get Ukraine to announce that Biden investigation?
Parnas: He was aware of that already. He knew everything.
Maddow: He already knew that by the time he talked to you?
Parnas: He had a lot of information already.
Maddow: Do you believe he got his information from Mr. Guiliani?
Parnas: I think they, there was other people doing this, like op…(oppositional research) or whatever. I don’t know what you call it but it was coming from different sides.
Maddow: Given that interaction you just described with Mr. Nunes and his aid Mr. Harvey, does it strike you as unusual or inappropriate that Mr. Nunes would be one of the lead investigators into the scandal on the House Intelligence Committee?
Parnas: I was shocked. When I was watching the hearing I, when I saw Devin Nunes sitting up there and there was a picture where Derek Harvey was in back over there sitting, I text my attorney, I cant believe this is happening.
Maddow: Because?
Parnas: Because they were involved in getting all this stuff on Biden. I mean Derek Harvey had several interviews, skypped interviews, that I set up, with different prosecutors such as Nazar Kholodnitskiy (the former Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office in Ukraine on which The National Anti-Corruption Bureau depended) and Prosecutor Kostyantyn Kulik (former deputy head of the international legal cooperation department at the Prosecutor General’s Office and loyalist of ex-President Petro Poroshenko) who said he had all this Biden stuff.
Its hard to see them lie like that when you know…..It’s scary because you know he was sitting there making all their statements and all that when he knew very well that he knew what was going on. He knew that was happening. He knew who I am.
According to the Daily Beast, Nunes told Fox News soon after the Maddow interview that he now remembers speaking on the phone with Parnas.
Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum asked Nunes about phone records that show he spoke to Parnas, saying that he previously could not recall the phone conversation.
“Claiming that the information was ‘brand new’ at the time and he just didn’t ‘recognize the name Parnas,’ Nunes added that he was now able to recall ‘where he was at the time’ and now “remembered that call.”
Parnas, an American citizen who was born in the former Soviet Union, was arrested in October and now faces criminal charges in New York. He expressed regret for having trusted Trump and Rudolph W. Giuliani. Parnas’ lawyer said he was now willing to cooperate with federal prosecutors investigating Giuliani.
About Time!! Now arrest him. NUNES HAS TO GO!!!
I told everyone Nunes was a liar and a traitor. Not enough listened.
It is pretty apparent there is no regard for due process and allowing the judicial processes to determine who is guilty and who is not. We have the darlings of the deliverance living among us who tried, judged, and convicted. Just read comments above for evidence. Nevermind Parnas credibility, democrats will hang their hats on his testimony. Subpoena all the idiots to testify, then maybe we will finally hear the truth behind Hunter, Burisma, and Joe’ connections to Ukraine. I wish the above mentioned commentors put as much effort into local and state issues as they do into trying to get Nunes out of office. Just maybe then California would not be the Cloaca of the U.S. Saul were you not the one who was so in love with Janz? Now you have to witness him lose his hometown Mayoral race. Ouch!
As voters we are like jurors and if the evidence leads us to a guilty verdict we can convict the defendant ( Nunes ), by voting him out of office.
I am embarrassed for him, anyone who voted for him, and anyone who allows his campaign signage on their property.
Nunes? I think I heard that the Secret Service found him in the WH bushes once, but I’ve never met him.
BARTIROMO: Bottom line, were you in Vienna with Shokin?
NUNES: Yes, so, look, Maria, I really want to answer all of these questions.
And I promise you I absolutely will come back on the show and answer these questions. But because there is criminal activity here — we’re working with the appropriate law enforcement agencies. We’re going to file all this. Everyone’s going to know the truth. Everybody’s going to know all the facts.
But I think you can understand that I can’t compete by trying to debate this out with the public media when 90 percent of the media are totally corrupt.
By now it should be painfully obvious to CA22 that Nunes is the one who is corrupt, and that his pathetic projection is a pack of ;lies. Devin needs to resign so he can spend more time with his cow.
Yep, who cares if his challengers have no qualifications? The mere fact that they have a D behind their names is the only qualification needed! No thanks!
As far as arresting the man, I suggest that you might want to establish legal grounds first. Or is that too much to ask?
Dave M I suggest that you might want to establish that you actually have a brain. Until you find one no one really cares what letter you have behind your name and you will be considered t o be “No Brain Dave M”. lol
SLAPP lawsuits against internet cows? Taking huge piles of cash from anonymous superPAC’s? Animal Husbandry? Uncovering “evidence” handed to him by the White House?
Yeah. Great qualifications there.
Devin can take his SLAPP lawsuit threat and shove it.