Lev Parnas, associate of Rudy Guliani, is the latest Democrat darling on whom the impeachment crowd are pinning their hopes to remove President Trump. The House Democrats want the Senate to allow witnesses in the impeachment trial of President Trump and Parnas is on the list.
Who is Lev Parnas?
Lev Parnas was born in Odessa, Ukraine in 1972 when Ukraine was still part of the Soviet Union. He didn’t live there long as his parents brought him to the United States in 1975. They lived in Detroit and then in New York.
He founded a company called Global Energy Producers, and then in 2013 a company named Fraud Guarantee. The Wall Street Journal reported that the name Fraud Guarantee was chosen to put help Parnas with Google searches.
Apparently, his name was already associated with fraud in a negative way, so he “fixed” that with a company that supposedly helped people who had been defrauded.
Parnas and Igor Fruman were arrested at Dulles Airport back in October 2019 for election finance violations, conspiracy, making false statements and falsifying records.
So it’s a legitimate question: is Lev Parnas a credible witness?
Pelosi on Parnas
At the end of her press conference recently, Nancy Pelosi was asked if Lev Parnas would be a credible witness. She quickly brought up the documents that were released and said it seemed that the documents would support what Parnas has been saying about working for the president.
The reporter pressed and asked if Parnas could be credible since he was under a federal indictment? Pelosi said he could be in relation to the impeachment. In other words, she did not say that Parnas was credible.
Watch Pelosi respond to questions about Parnas.
Adam Schiff on Parnas
Democrat Adam Schiff loves to spread virtually any conspiracy theory or hoax about President Trump. There is almost no gutter accusation he won’t run with.
So it’s really quite telling that when he was asked point blank if Lev Parnas is credible, he refused to answer. pic.twitter.com/4lv0zbwaKV
— Matt Wolking (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@MattWolking) January 16, 2020
Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vadym Prystaiko on Parnas
Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vadym Prystaiko, familiar with US aid to Ukraine, said that he doesn’t trust a word that Parnas is saying. (He also said the withholding of US aid was not unusual.)
Vadym Prystaiko, Foreign Minister of Ukraine: “Frankly, I have not spoken with [Lev Parnas], and again, frankly, I don’t trust any word he is now saying.” pic.twitter.com/bRUm3mleqN
— The Hill (@thehill) January 16, 2020
Jake Tapper on Parnas
CNN’s Jake Tapper had this to say,
We can’t ignore Parnas has a serious credibility problem. He’s under indictment for campaign finance charges. The foreign minister of Ukraine told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that he doesn’t trust a word Parnas is saying. And yet I see people out there on social media — Democrats — acting as if this guy is the second coming of Theodore Roosevelt or something.”
Parnas on Parnas
Last November, Parnas said he spoke with the president in a private meeting about Ukraine. Now, Parnas has said he never spoke privately to President Trump about Ukraine.
“In the interview with The Times, Mr. Parnas said that although he did not speak with Mr. Trump directly about the efforts, he met with the president on several occasions and was told by Mr. Giuliani that Mr. Trump was kept in the loop.”
The rest of the usual suspects, Rachel Maddow, Anderson Cooper, Joe Scarborough, etc. are absolutely certain that Parnas is credible and that his interviews on their shows have been absolute bombshells, even though Parnas, like all the other Democrat witnesses, has no first-hand knowledge of what the president said about Ukraine. No surprise there.
But one has to wonder why Pelosi and Schiff want Parnas to testify?