Lev Parnas, a convicted criminal and former associate of Rudy Giuliani, said during testimony in the House of Representatives on Wednesday that he and Giuliani knowingly spread misinformation from Russia about President Joe Biden.
What's more, said Parnas, the two men knew at the time that this misinformation came from Russian intelligence operatives.
During an impeachment hearing into President Joe Biden over unfounded bribery allegations, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) questioned Parnas about the work he did with Giuliani back in 2019, shortly before he was indicted for making fraudulent campaign donations.
"Were you aware, was Mr. Giuliani aware, that these people were basically just doing the bidding of Vladimir Putin?" Raskin asked him.
"Absolutely," Parnas replied.
"So he had no hesitation about spreading lies that were concocted by Russian agents?" Raskin asked.
"As long as it fit the narrative," Parnas said.
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"How were you and Giuliani able to take these false allegations, peddled by corrupt officials and Russian agents, and promote and amplify them here, in the United States?" he asked. "Weren't media groups skeptical of your claims?"
"Most media groups," Parnas acknowledged. "I'd probably say all, except for Fox and a few other right-wing media groups, didn't want to take that information. And that aggravated Rudy Giuliani and John Solomon and other players."
Parnas then pointed the finger at Fox News' Sean Hannity as someone who was particularly eager to launder such disinformation, while also singling out Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) for doing the same.
Parnas' claims about right-wing media being more receptive to Giuliani's overtures are backed up by the historical record.
In the fall of 2020, Giuliani pitched stories about Hunter Biden's laptop to the Wall Street Journal. When the Journal's reporters appeared skeptical of the claims he was making about the laptop potentially exposing criminal activity by Joe Biden, he then took the story to the New York Post, which promptly ran with it.
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