Lev Parnas, who was a central figure in the 2019 Ukraine scandal that led to the impeachment of Donald Trump, is still telling his story — and is now revealing insights into "diplomatic impropriety" that he says is at the heart of current investigations targeting the Biden family.
It's a message Republicans are not eager to promote, The Palm Beach Post reports.
"The whole motive and the whole Biden stuff was never about getting justice, and getting to the bottom of Biden criminality or doing an investigation in Ukraine," Parnas said. "It was all about announcing an investigation and using that in the media to be able to destroy the Biden campaign and have Trump win."
Parnas, a henchman of Rudy Giuliani who was also connected to Trump, was a link between investigators and Ukranian figures attempting to dig up dirt on President Joe Biden's son, Hunter. He was convicted on several charges, including fraud and campaign finance violations.
Parnas was arrested along with fellow Giuliani associate Igor Fruman in 2019 and accused of setting up a shell company to funnel hundreds of thousands in Russian donations to Republican candidates. He was sentenced to a year and eight months in prison.
Parnas was also subpoenaed to give evidence in the impeachment hearing of Trump that involved the then-president's "perfect call" to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25, 2019, in which Trump congratulated the new president on his campaign win — but suggested he owed a favor.
While Parnas' message might be ignored by the likes of House Oversight Committee chair Rep. James Comer, he's hoping the public will listen.
His upcoming book "Shadow Diplomacy" will be followed by a podcast titled "Lev Remembers," and he's also cooperating for a documentary — all endeavors he says are designed to get the truth out about what happened with Trump and Ukraine.
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"It's all because of one individual that wanted to stay in power, that didn't want to relinquish power," he told The Palm Beach Post.
Parnas also wants to counter the image of himself as being a shady figure from South Florida.
"That was the depiction presented in much of the reporting about Parnas after he became a news headliner in the fall of 2019," The Post's report states. "That followed the disclosure and widespread reporting of a whistleblower complaint about another more famous phone call, this one the previous July in which Trump reportedly pressured Zelenskyy to open up an investigation of Biden."
He says he hopes the Trump base will heed his warnings as a former Trump ally.
"They don't want to realize who Trump really is, because if they realize it, they will feel that they lost," he said. "The only way we can get through that is to get past Donald Trump and the divisiveness and the craziness he brings with him."
Read more at The Palm Beach Post.