Lev Parnas throws dirt on Rudy Giuliani and flees 'Trump cult' in Biden's crazy impeachment hearing

The House Oversight Committee's latest attempt to hold an impeachment hearing for President Joe Biden took a bizarre turn on Wednesday when one of three witnesses who testified before the Republican-led panel began revealing unpleasant information about former President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer. , Rudolph Giuliani.

Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian-American businessman who served time in prison for violating federal campaign finance laws and fraud charges, told committee members that he was a “key participant” in a scheme to dig up dirt on Biden and his son. Hunter Biden, in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election.

He said Giuliani “tasked” him with the task of “finding dirty information about the Biden family so that a group of networks can spread disinformation about them” so that Trump and his allies could “damage Biden's reputation and secure the 2020 election for Trump.”

But Parnas, who admitted he was on probation after serving time in prison for his crimes, told the committee that the allegations against Biden promoted by the Republican majority were false.

“I have never hesitated to say that there is no evidence of Biden family corruption in Ukraine — because there is “It was nothing” He said in the opening statement.

Parnas went on to say that the theories on which Republicans based their investigations aimed at impeaching Biden are in fact “based on a bunch of false information spread by the Kremlin” and have no basis in reality.

“Throughout this entire situation, no credible source has provided evidence of the alleged corruption of Joe or Hunter Biden in Ukraine… No respected Ukrainian official has ever said that the Biden family did anything illegal,” he said, reviewing a list of Ukrainians. Officials and countries who have publicly said that the president and his son were not involved in any criminal activity.

Parnas added that the CEO of Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company that employed Hunter Biden as a member of its board, rejected a deal on the criminal charges he faced “in exchange for information about the Biden family” but did not provide such information.

“The only information that was circulated about the Biden family and Ukraine came from Russia and Russian agents, which everyone sitting here today knows,” he said, referring to the recent indictment of former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov on charges of fabricating insulting information about the Biden family that has come to light. Prominent in the FBI model announced by the Republican majority.

“In my travels, I have found precisely no evidence of criminality by the Biden family. Instead, what I learned in this time frame was the true nature of the conspiracy that the Kremlin was pushing through Russian, Ukrainian, American, and other channels to interfere in our elections. “Ultimately, this was intended to benefit Trump’s re-election, which in turn would benefit Vladimir Putin.”

Parnas, who first came to public attention when he was arrested during the first of two House impeachment inquiries against Trump, was just one of two convicted felons to give evidence before the Republican-led committee in a hearing that uncovered no new evidence but was . Heavy on the baseless accusations by partisans with axes to grind.

One Republican witness, James Galanis, testified via remote video connection from a federal prison in Alabama, where he is known as Inmate No. 80739-198.

In a recorded interview last month, Galanis — Hunter Biden's former business partner — told investigators that President Biden had never taken on any role with any business entity associated with his son. He also said under oath that he had “no knowledge” of Biden taking “any formal action” on behalf of the business venture in which he, Archer and Hunter Biden were involved.

But the convicted fraudster, part of a crime family whose boss, his father, was prosecuted by Mr. Giuliani in the 1980s, told the committee on Wednesday that the president was scheduled to be involved in a company after leaving the vice presidency. presidency in 2017, although he had no documented involvement in the project in question.

Under questioning from Republicans, the jailed felon described Hunter Biden as providing what he called “Biden support” for potential business deals through his father's involvement, telling members that Hunter Biden was actively trying to leverage his family name to advance his business endeavors.

However, in a 2018 court opinion, U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams said it was Galanis — not Hunter Biden — who was exploiting the Hunter family name for his own gain.

She wrote that Galanis was trying to use his business partner and co-defendant, Devon Archer, to get to Biden, explaining how the other defendants in the Galanis case called Archer “the biggest whale ever,” and “the biggest whale ever.” Show pony of all time,” and “absolutely fucking whale” in conversations that were recorded and admitted into evidence against them.

He also told another accuser that two of Archer's associates were “Chris Haynes and Hunter Biden, the stepson of Secretary of State John Kerry and the son of Vice President Joe Biden, respectively.”

The other Republican witness was Tony Bobulinski, a former Navy SEAL and Trump ally who made his first appearance when he appeared at a Trump-sponsored news conference before one of the former president's 2020 debates with Biden.

Mr. Bobulinski, who was represented by counsel from Elections LLC — a company run by former Trump administration officials that was paid by Trump's political action committee, repeatedly engaged in theatrics throughout his testimony, displaying clear disdain for Democrats on the committee and in person. He attacked two Democrats, Ranking Member Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Representative Daniel Goldman of New York, in his opening statement.

He accused both of them – without providing evidence – of lying about him and his testimony, and of constantly talking to Democratic members and obstructing their questions rather than answering them.

Another Democrat on the committee, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, let the former US Navy officer stumble and tried to yell at her when she repeatedly pressed him to say what crime, if any, President Biden allegedly committed. .

When asked several times by the New York congresswoman, Bobulinski was unable to specify which laws Biden is accused of violating.

Although Republican members repeatedly cited images of alleged text messages and emails on a disabled BlackBerry belonging to Mr. Bobulinski as evidence of President Biden's involvement in Hunter's actions, the GOP voted against an explicit proposal by Mr. Raskin to subpoena the old cellphone to determine Whether the messages were real or fabricated.

They also defeated by voice vote a separate motion to subpoena records from Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and former White House senior adviser, who received $2 billion in investments in his new hedge fund from a Saudi sovereign wealth fund after Trump's win. The administration has come to an end.

The hearing was just the latest in a series of shameful public hearings that House Republicans have used to advance an investigation that has uncovered no evidence of wrongdoing by the president after more than a year of operating under a GOP majority.

Much of the testimony presented and evidence presented was identical or nearly identical to what committee members had repeatedly brought up during previous public hearings, including last year's hearing in which a Republican witness, George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley, admitted that the GOP had not No evidence is found to justify an impeachment investigation.

Ian Sams, spokesman for the White House counsel's office, said: The Independent That Wednesday's proceedings were “an embarrassment for House Republicans.”

“They need to move on from this sad charade. “There are real issues that the American people want them to address.”

Kyle Herrig, executive director of the Congressional Integrity Project, said in a statement that it was too late for Coomer to “end this ridiculous charade and work for the American people.”

“Calling this session a clown show would be an insult to hardworking clowns everywhere. There is nothing amusing about watching Comer, Jordan and MAGA Republicans make fools of themselves week after week, month after month, while ignoring the real concerns of the American people. Impeachment is dead; “It is time to move forward.”

Robert Garcia, a Democratic member of the committee, said The Independent The hours-long session was just “another prank” in a long line of them.

He added: “It is clear that we are ready to move forward with isolation procedures.” He said: “There is no evidence.”

Garcia described the GOP witnesses as “a bunch of crooks, failed companies, and spies,” while noting that Bobulinski, in his estimation, “lied several times” and was unable to “get his story straight.”

He said: “Even Republicans consider the impeachment process to be a joke now… We should be focusing on a bunch of other things and we are completely wasting our time.”

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, a New York congresswoman, expressed a similar opinion when pressed for her thoughts on the measures by The Independent.

“They were a mess, they are a mess, they will always be a mess,” she said.

Despite the lack of actual evidence presented by the two pro-Trump parties who testified on the Republican side, Coomer, the embattled committee chairman, said he would “invite” President Biden to testify before his committee in what appeared to be a final hearing. -Abandoning the attempt to keep his year-long investigation alive despite uncovering no evidence that Biden committed any “high crime” or “misdemeanor” to warrant impeachment.

“We need to hear from the president himself. I assure the American people that they will be able to evaluate the president's sincerity and suitability for the office he now holds,” said Comer, who has no authority to compel the president to stand trial.