Donald Trump likes to say that anyone who speaks out against him is a “Never Trumper,” but he will be hard-pressed to give that label to Lev Parnas. There is no doubt Parnas was very much on the president’s side, at least until recently. Parnas was an associate of Rudy Giuliani’s and has countless pictures with Trump himself. After all, he says his work with Ukraine was all related to trying to get Trump re-elected in 2020. But now Parnas is one of Trump’s biggest problems. The Washington Post writes, “Parnas has said he acted at the direction of the president’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and that Trump and Vice President Pence were aware of his activities.”
With that in mind, it’s not surprising that the White House is doing whatever possible to try to stop Parnas from testifying in the impeachment trial. The Wall Street Journal‘s Michael C. Bender says this is what he is hearing from sources:
Mr. Trump’s team aims to block any attempt from House managers to include in the Senate trial any new witnesses or evidence that hadn’t been considered during the House impeachment process, including testimony from Lev Parnas, according to people working with the Trump team. Mr. Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney who was working on his behalf in Ukraine, offered new allegations last week that have inflamed the debate about whether senators should call witnesses.
Trump supporters have been making it known they don’t want to hear from Parnas either.
Attorney General William Barr was also caught up in Parnas’ recent revelations, with Parnas saying, “Attorney General Barr was basically on the team.” Now NBC writes that his attorney wrote a letter asking that Barr recuse himself from his case and appoint a special prosecutor:
A copy of the letter, dated Monday, was filed on Parnas’ docket in his federal campaign finance violation case brought by New York prosecutors.
“Given the totality of the circumstances, we believe it is appropriate for you to recuse yourself from the ongoing investigation and pending prosecution of Mr. Parnas,” reads the three-paged letter, which was signed by his defense lawyer Joseph Bondy.
