An attorney for Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas said that his client is willing to testify before Congress that California Rep. Devin Nunes met with a former Ukrainian prosecutor in Vienna last year to request that Ukraine dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden, CNN reported.
Joseph A. Bondy represents Parnas, who is a Soviet-born American that worked with President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Currently, Parnas is under indictment on campaign finance charges, and his lawyer indicated that Parnas is willing to comply with a congressional subpoena for testimony, as well as document what he knows about Rep. Nunes’ part in the effort to get information about the Bidens. Parnas’ claims are the first to link a member of Congress to the attempts to get details about the Bidens.
“Mr. Parnas learned from former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Victor Shokin that Nunes had met with Shokin in Vienna last December,” said Bondy.
In 2016, Victor Shokin lost his position as a prosecutor in Ukraine after pressure from Western countries due to concerns that he wasn’t tough on corruption in Ukraine. Then-Vice President Biden voiced those worries, and ultimately Shokin was removed from his duties.
According to Bondy, Parnas and Nunes’ communications began around the same time as the representative’s trip to Vienna late last year. Bondy’s client helped put Nunes in touch with Ukrainians who could help him get dirt on both the Bidens and other Democrats.
Records show that Nunes and three aides traveled to Europe last year, from November 30 through December 3. At the time of the trip, Nunes served as chairman of the Intelligence Committee.
Devin Nunes does not look thrilled as Swalwell reads into the record a story about his ties with indicted Giuliani associate Lev Parnas pic.twitter.com/n0jR2gKgvj
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 21, 2019
During the testimony in the House’s impeachment inquiry into President Trump, Rep. Nunes surfaced as one of the president’s biggest supporters. However, during Friday’s testimony, another California representative, Eric Swalwell, read details of a report from The Daily Beast that detailed news about Nunes meeting with Shokin into the official record. The look on Nunes’ face appeared to show he wasn’t pleased that his colleague made sure the details made it into the record.
Parnas admitted that he worked with Guiliani and Shokin to push conspiracy theories that Ukrainians interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of Democrats. Bondy revealed that Nunes also worked to promote similar claims about Democrat corruption.
As Fiona Hill noted in her testimony before the House Intelligence Committee yesterday, the claim that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections on behalf of the Democrats is one that directly benefits Vladimir Putin and Russia. The U.S. intelligence agencies found that the Russians are the ones who interfered in the presidential election.
“Nunes had told Shokin of the urgent need to launch investigations into?Burisma, Joe and Hunter Biden, and any purported Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election,” Bondy told CNN .
It is unclear if Parnas will eventually testify before the committee. Parnas is ready to talk about his role in the so-called “secret mission” given to him by President Trump because he’s not pleased with what has happened since he was arrested last month.
Neither Nunes or Shokin provided a comment to CNN about this news. However, Nunes talked to Breitbart about the news stories.
“Some political operative offered these fake stories to at least five different media outlets before finding someone irresponsible enough to publish them. I look forward to prosecuting these cases, including the media outlets, as well as the sources of their fake stories, to the fullest extent of the law. I intend to hold the Daily Beast and CNN accountable for their actions. They will find themselves in court soon after Thanksgiving,” said Rep. Nunes.