'A wild goose chase': Giuliani associate urges House GOP to abandon Biden probe
"The fall of Rudy Giuliani, once the toast of New York, continues unabated "WSJ: Giuliani testified for 8 hours in DOJ probe, questioned on Sidney Powell" [...][10 Years of Super PACs Show Courts Were Wrong on Corruption Risks [...]P - The most recent high-profile one involves Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two Ukrainian-American businessmen who used large contributions to a pro-Trump super PAC to get facetime with the president. They took the opportunity to advocate .. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/25/us/politics/trump-ukraine-donors.html .. for the ouster of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, a move they viewed as benefiting their own interests and those of another Ukrainian government official."
Related: On today’s episode, Former Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani Associate Lev Parnas reads from his exclusive letter to Rep. James Comer of the House Oversight Committee. His letter outlines Trump and Giuliani’s efforts to dig up dirt on the Biden family as well as their continued efforts to interfere with the highest levels of Ukrainian politics. Oh and.... NEW: Lev Parnas just came clean about how the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop were acquired by Russian FSB agents and compromised and manipulated by Russian intelligence. Parnas is asking James Comer to allow him to testify before Congress. https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=172446798
Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian businessman, said there has never been any evidence that the president or his son Hunter interfered with Ukraine's politics, "only conspiracy theories."
Lev Parnas on Capitol Hill in 2020. Caroline Brehman / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images file
July 19, 2023, 10:56 AM AEST By Rebecca Kaplan and Zoë Richards
In a 10-page letter obtained by NBC News, Parnas told House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., that there is "no evidence" that the president or his son Hunter interfered with Ukrainian politics, "and there never has been."
“With all due respect, Chairman Comer, the narrative you are seeking for this investigation has been proven false many times over, by a wide array of respected sources," Parnas wrote. "There is simply no merit to investigating this matter any further.”
Reached for comment Tuesday, a spokesperson for Comer said his office had not yet seen the letter. In a statement, Comer blasted Democrats and the media, saying they were “ignoring independent facts” about the Biden family, their financial dealings and “allegations from IRS agents about the Department of Justice’s politicization of Biden investigation.”
“Bank records, the FBI’s Biden Bribery Record, and IRS whistleblowers have nothing to do with Rudy Giuliani. It’s past time for Democrats and their allies to stop covering for the Bidens and instead follow the facts,” Comer said.
Parnas said that from November 2018 to October 2019 he was a “key participant” in meetings or phone calls between Giuliani and various Ukrainian officials, often acting as a translator in efforts to pressure them to launch an investigation into the Biden family.
“Never, during any of my communications with Ukrainian officials or connections to Burisma, did any of them confirm or provide concrete facts linking the Bidens to illegal activities,” Parnas wrote.
"In fact," he added, Ukrainian officials and people linked to Burisma, a company in Ukraine, repeatedly asked him "why our team was so concerned with this idea.”
Parnas further alleged that Giuliani and some of his associates knew that the allegations they were pursuing were false.
A Giuliani spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
“There has never been any factual evidence, only conspiracy theories spread by people who knew exactly what they were doing," Parnas wrote. “Please abandon this effort to investigate the Bidens, which is nothing more than a wild goose chase, and let our elected officials return to the issue at hand of uniting our great country to be stronger and better than ever before."
The White House has pushed back against the Biden family probes led by House Republicans.
"As we have said many times before, the President was not in business with his son,"Ian Sams, a spokesperson for the White House counsel's office, said in a statement last month."As we have also said many times before, the Justice Department makes decisions in its criminal investigations independently, and in this case."
Rebecca Kaplan reported from Washington, and Zoë Richards reported from New York. Rebecca is a producer and off-air reporter covering Congress for NBC News, managing coverage of the House.
Zoë Richards is the evening politics reporter for NBC News.