- A lawyer for the arrested businessman Lev Parnas told The New York Times that his client was sent on a mission to Ukraine by President Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani to tell the Ukrainian government to announce an investigation into Joe Biden or lose military aid.
- The claim that Trump abused his office in pressuring Ukraine to announce a Biden investigation is the focus of the impeachment inquiry launched by House Democrats.
- According to Parnas’ attorney, his client believes that Giuliani was acting on Trump’s authorization when he dispatched Parnas to Ukraine.
- Trump has denied that a “quid pro quo” deal – or demand for a favor in return for military aid – was ever sought with Ukraine.
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An arrested businessman claims he was sent to Ukraine by President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani to tell the Ukrainian government to announce an investigation into Joe Biden and his son or lose US military aid, the man’s lawyer told The New York Times.
Parnas’ lawyer, Joseph Bondy, told the publication that his client believed that Giuliani was acting under Trump’s direct authorization when he sent him on the mission to Ukraine in May, when he said he delivered the ultimatum to a close aide of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Parnas also apparently says he told the aide that Vice President Mike Pence would cancel attendance at Zelensky’s swearing-in ceremony unless Ukraine complied.
Trump has denied that any “quid pro quo” deal – or arrangement in which a political favor was demanded from Ukraine in return from military aid – was ever placed on the table. A whistleblower’s complaint about a July 25 phone call between Trump and Zelensky led House Democrats to launch their impeachment inquiry into Trump.
Several people involved in Parnas’ meeting issued statements to The Times denying his account of what took place.
Giuliani told The Times he "never authorized such a conversation" as Parnas claims took place with the Ukrainian official in May.
The report is further indication the Parnas has turned against Trump and Giuliani. He was reportedly upset when Trump denied ever knowing him, despite multiple photographs showing Parnas and Trump together, and had opened talks with impeachment investigators.
His testimony could be important for House Democrats carrying out the impeachment investigation, as he was said to be closely involved in Giuliani's shadow foreign policy campaign in Ukraine seeking information that might damage for Biden's reputation.
Biden is one of the leading Democratic candidates for the presidency in 2020, and no evidence has emerged to substantiate claims that he abused his office as vice president to quash an investigation into Burisma, an energy firm on whose board his son Hunter served.
Last month Parnas and an associate, Igor Fruman, were arrested at a Washington, DC, airport with one-way tickets to Europe on charges that they illegally channeled foreign money into Republican campaigns. Both have pleaded not guilty.
In a statement to The Times, Fruman, who accompanied Parnas on the May trip, denied Parnas' account of what occurred.