{UAH} YOU ARE BEING WARNED ABOUT THE STORRY OF PARNAS THAT CNN IS PIMPING OUT THERE Part one

'100% false': DOJ rejects Lev Parnas claim that Barr was part of Ukraine scheme

by Daniel Chaitin

 & Jerry Dunleavy

 | January 16, 2020 11:00 PM

 

The Justice Department flatly rejected allegations by Lev Parnas, an indicted associate of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, that Attorney General William Barr was "absolutely" involved in a Ukraine scheme now at the center of impeachment.

"100% false," DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec told the Washington Examiner in the same two-word statement which MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, who conducted an interview with Parnas on Wednesday, read live on air.

Parnas, 47, along with another Giuliani associate, Igor Fruman, was charged over an alleged scheme to funnel foreign money to Republican politicians. House Democrats began releasing a trove of texts and documents Tuesday evening related to efforts to remove then-Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch from her post in Kyiv. Parnas asserted that his dealings in Ukraine, now the subject of impeachment scrutiny, were done with Trump's and Giuliani's knowledge.

"Today, we interviewed Lev Parnas," Maddow's show told the Justice Department in its request for comment, which was shared by Kupec. "He told us Attorney General Barr was basically on the same team and best of friends with Rudy Giuliani, Victoria Toensing, and Joe DiGenova. He said AG Barr knew, through contact with Rudy Giuliani, about the effort to get the Ukrainians to announce an investigation of Vice President Joe Biden. We welcome any comment you have for us about this."

Kupec told the Washington Examiner that there was no truth to Parnas's claims. She added that the Justice Department's position "has not changed" since September, when the Ukraine controversy first broke through a whistleblower complaint and when the agency emphatically distanced itself from Giuliani's foray into Ukraine in a lengthy statement.

Barr was reportedly dismayed to discover Trump had grouped him in with Giuliani during a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July. A transcript of the call shows Trump saying Giuliani could help the country investigate Biden. "I will have Mr. Giuliani give you a call, and I am also going to have Attorney General Barr call, and we will get to the bottom of it," Trump told Zelensky.

The Justice Department insisted Barr was unaware of the call until mid-August and that the president had never told his attorney general to contact Ukraine about any investigation of the former vice president and his son, Hunter Biden.

"The President has not spoken with the Attorney General about having Ukraine investigate anything relating to former Vice President Biden or his son, and the President has not asked the Attorney General to contact Ukraine — on this or any other matter," the Justice Department said last year. "The Attorney General has not communicated with Ukraine — on this or any other subject. Nor has the Attorney General discussed this matter, or anything relating to Ukraine, with Rudy Giuliani."

Parnas insisted Barr "wanted to get to the bottom of the Biden stuff" as part of U.S. Attorney John Durham's investigation into the origins of the Russia inquiry. Asked if he knew whether Barr spoke with Ukrainian officials, Parnas said he did not recall and would have to check his records.

In September, the Justice Department said the team led by Durham was "separately exploring the extent to which a number of countries, including Ukraine, played a role in the counterintelligence investigation directed at the Trump campaign during the 2016 election," adding, "While the Attorney General has yet to contact Ukraine in connection with this investigation, certain Ukrainians who are not members of the government have volunteered information to Mr. Durham, which he is evaluating."

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