Lev Parnas details 'intimate' cannabis industry dinner with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump
In an extensive interview with the Daily Beast, Lev Parnas -- the associate of Rudy Giuliani who is at the center of more allegations of corruption against Donald Trump -- revealed details of a meeting he had with Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner that the White House has tried to dismiss.
Speaking with the Beast's Betsy Swan, Parnas stated that he was a participant at a private dinner at the Trump Hotel, with Swan writing, "In October 2018, he attended a dinner in a private suite at Trump Hotel hosted by the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action. The dinner, with around a dozen people, connected Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump with leaders in the cannabis industry. Parnas said he was invited because he “was a Trump loyalist,” and because the super PAC’s Director of Development Joey Ahearn knew he was pro-cannabis."
According to Parnas, cannabis entrepreneurs were hoping to influence Kushner in the hope he could influence the White House's stance on weed.
“They wanted Jared to be more involved, maybe help push the agenda with the president because they felt that that was something he needed to be more lenient on,” Parnas explained.
As for a picture taken with the couple that went viral, Parnas sais the White House was lying about the circumstances under which it was taken.
"The White House has claimed that a picture of Parnas with Kushner and Ivanka Trump was 'taken at an event in a photo line.'" the report states. "Parnas, however, said it was taken at the intimate dinner with cannabis industry insiders. Two sources with knowledge of the dinner confirmed that it happened in October 2018 and that Parnas attended. The decor in the background of the picture–as Zack Everson, author of a newsletter on Trump properties noted–indicates the photo was taken in the pricey Trump Hotel suite where the dinner was hosted."
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