Lev Parnas Has More Recordings of Donald Trump, His Attorney Says

Authored by newsweek.com and submitted by Mateony
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The attorney for Lev Parnas said his client has more recordings of President Donald Trump.

Parnas is an indicted former business associate of Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, and is now speaking out about his alleged knowledge of and involvement with the Ukraine scheme at the heart of Trump's impeachment.

This week, Parnas released a recording in his possession of Trump calling for the removal of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanavitch. Joseph A. Bondy, the lawyer representing Parnas, suggested more recordings may emerge.

The Yovanovitch audio, first reported by ABC News, was recorded by Igor Fruman, another associate of Parnas and Giuliani who is also indicted. Both Parnas and Fruman are accused of campaign finance violations.

"I don't know why he made the recordings. Some people make recordings, they like to take pictures. I can't ascribe any kind of motive beyond that," Bondy told CNN host Anderson Cooper on Saturday and confirmed that there are more.

Cooper asked if Bondy would release them. "Perhaps. We've sent recordings to the House Intelligence Committee also," Bondy said.

"This seems to be the recording that certainly addresses the issue of the ambassador and we thought it was really important to get that recording out in public today."

Newsweek has asked the White House for comment.

The audio was recorded at a private meeting in April 2018, a year before the Trump administration recalled Yovanovitch from her role in Kyiv. Yovanovitch says she was the target of a smear campaign that led to her removal.

"Get rid of her," a voice purportedly belonging to Trump says, referring to Yovanovitch, according to ABC News. "Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it."

White House communications director Stephanie Grisham told Newsweek previously: "Every president in our history has had the right to place people who support his agenda and his policies within his Administration."

The senior diplomat was seen by Giuliani, Parnas, and Fruman as an obstacle to their work digging up dirt in Ukraine on former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, who sat on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma.

The president and his allies accuse the Bidens of acting corruptly, though there is little public evidence of such. Joe Biden is the front-running candidate in the Democratic 2020 race.

Trump denies directing Giuliani's shadow diplomacy in Ukraine.

Parnas provided to House investigators evidence suggesting Giuliani directed surveillance of Yovanovitch while she was ambassador in Kyiv, which the former New York City mayor denies.

Giuliani called Parnas a "demonstrated liar" during a Fox News interview with Laura Ingraham.

The Senate is currently conducting a trial of Trump, who was impeached by the House in December over the alleged Ukraine scheme.

The House impeached Trump with two articles: Abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. House Democrats accuse Trump of soliciting Ukraine's interference in the 2020 election to benefit his re-election campaign.

They say Trump conditioned a White House visit for Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and $391 million in military aid for the country on the public announcement of an unfounded corruption investigation into the Bidens.

Trump denies any wrongdoing and claims to have legitimately pursued concerns about corruption in Ukraine.

alfiedotwtf2 on January 26th, 2020 at 12:47 UTC »

Trump sure does have a lot of conversations with someone he doesn't know

frank1257 on January 26th, 2020 at 12:11 UTC »

Imagine what Putin has on trump

coldandpain on January 26th, 2020 at 12:11 UTC »

If there is any justice in this world, what they havent released yet is worse than what they did already. Increasingly worse.