Live Video Chat With Lev Parnas, Trump's One-Time Hatchet Man in Ukraine
Watch Tomorrow (Tuesday) at 11am EST
Some of you may recall that when I worked at CNN back in 2019 and 2020, the story I am proud to say I really felt that I owned was that of Lev Parnas.
Parnas, and his one time friend and associate, Igor Fruman were the two Miami-based Soviet-born American businessmen, hustlers who, along with Rudy Giuliani pursued a shadow foreign policy, chiefly aimed at digging up dirt on Joe and Hunter Biden, in Ukraine - at the behest of Donald Trump, who later said, when Parnas and Fruman were arrested for campaign finance fraud, that he’d never met Parnas.
It was a denial with massive consequences.
A deeply hurt Parnas turned from loyal foot soldier to a whistle-blower who had damning evidence of not only knowing Trump but footage of Trump articulating his desire to be rid of the US ambassador to Ukraine: Marie Yovanovitch.
Parnas would subsequently become a witness at Trump’s first impeachment hearings.
And Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman wound up going to jail for their campaign violations.
Throughout the saga the American public got to know the talkative, likable Lev, a man with an imperfect story (there were ties to the mob), and an imperfect character, who nonetheless had big ideas, big dreams and a big heart. He became later the star of Rachel Maddow’s first documentary: From Russia with Lev which culminates in a teary meeting between Lev and the man he was onetime hell-bent on destroying: Hunter Biden.
I got to know Lev well in 2019 and 2020, and I will always have a soft spot for the guy. I’ve always believed that you only get to see someone’s character when adversity hits. I met Lev when he was in remarkably difficult circumstances. He’d been disowned by Trump, he didn’t seem to have any money, he was under house arrest facing criminal campaign violation charges, his wife, Svetlana, was pregnant with his sixth child - and he remained upbeat, wry - and brave, frankly.
Lev has just started a new substack newsletter : Lev Remembers. And so I phoned him up and asked if we could do a chat about what he’s gleaning from his well-placed sources in Ukraine, Russia and the US right now. He’s got some things to say that may surprise you!
If, for background, you want to read my CNN pieces on Lev, then click here, here, here, and here.
And you can watch Chris Cuomo and I talk about it here.
And see you tomorrow at 11am EST.
