Giuliani associate regrets buying into 'deep state' conspiracy — and thinks Trump committed crimes bribing Ukraine
Lev Parnas, one of the associates of Rudy Giuliani's working on the Ukraine conspiracy has been released from prison on home confinement and he's speaking out about his experience working to help Donald Trump.
MSNBC's Ari Melber asked what he called "an obvious, straightforward comparison. There are people like Mr. Giuliani, to say nothing of Mr. Trump who have faced less accountability than you. Did that weigh on your mind while you were incarcerated?"
Parnas agreed, noting that since his incarceration he's had a lot of time to think.
"That's been weighing on my mind from the day I was arrested, because the things I was doing, at the time I was doing it, I thought I was doing it, as an American patriot, serving my country," he said. "Never in my wildest dreams did I think the president of the United States could be so corrupt and do the things he did or send me to do the things that I ended up doing. It still weighs on my mind heavily. That is why I am trying to now make amends and make sure I let the whole truth out and make sure everybody knows exactly what transpired, especially with what's going on in Ukraine."
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He explained that at the time, he truly believed Trump and Giuliani's claims that there was a "deep state conspiracy" afoot inside the U.S. government.
"And the Ukrainian people were involved in the officials involved were corrupt and they were trying to undermine the U.S. elections by -- at the time," Parnas continued. "But after reflecting and understanding exactly what transpired, I now realize and understand that it was really Trump using Giuliani, like his Roy Cohn. And making him put people like myself in harm's way to be able to dig up dirt, at that time, on Joe Biden."
Conservatives are still trying to push the same conspiracy, that President Joe Biden's son was somehow involved in a slew of international scams that made the Biden men billionaires. It's false and no one in the Biden family is a billionaire. Parnas has said that the Hunter Biden laptop scheme was a "setup" from the beginning.
"Let me dig into that," Melber began. "What you are telling me, for my understanding is that, during that time you bought into the storyline that you thought, if there is really corruption over there, you are helping explore or uproot it, perhaps. And you are telling me that later you came to see that — which I should know and viewers know was a widely discredited cover story to hurt the Bidens for political reasons — that you do now see it that way and say well, actually it was all kind of Trump's political BS?"
He agreed, and began to echo some of the same points other former Trump allies have said once leaving the fold, describing it more as a kind of cult than a political campaign.
"You have to understand, I grew up in Brooklyn and I looked up to people like Giuliani and Trump and when he became president, I really believed I was cultinized, and I drink the kool-aid," Parnas admitted. "And I really believed that he was trying to do good for our country and I thought, honestly that everything I'm doing is positive for our country. But eventually, even prior to my arrest, I could see the way that Giuliani was being so aggressive with Trump officials and putting pressure on President [Volodymyr] Zelensky at the time."
"Sooner or later I started getting a feeling, but I didn't realize it until after my arrest and after I had time to re-evaluate everything that happened and understand," continued Parnas. "Today I truly believe and understand that they were using me to be able to basically win the 2020 election. Most people deep down inside -- educated, common sense individuals who might not be saying it out loud, realize it's a bunch of BS and it's not true, but they don't come out and say it because for their own personal benefits. They want to change the policy or president, or whatever the political aspect is."
He closed by admitting that based on what he saw, he firmly believes that both Giuliani and Trump "committed crimes" based on the way they pressured Zelensky and prosecutors in Ukraine. Parnas also linked Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to the scheme at one point.
"They basically blackmailed them and force them into trying to get information. They threaten them with different things," said Parnas. "The first thing was not having Vice President Pence attend the inauguration. That was a huge thing for President Zelensky once he got into office. With how the military is and stuff like that. The constant threat going on, the state and get what they wanted and what they wanted was for President Zelensky to come out and say there was going to be an investigation into Joe Biden."
Trump was impeached for the alleged attempt to bribe Ukraine, which is listed under the impeachment rules in the Constitution as an example of an impeachable offense. Senate Republicans refused to even hear the case.
See the full interview below or at this link.
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