Lev Parnas is throwing Donald Trump under the proverbial bus.
During a Wednesday interview with Rachel Maddow, the indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani claimed the president was fully aware of his dealings in Ukraine. The sit-down aired months after Parnas and another Giuliani associate, Igor Fruman, pleaded not guilty to charges of illegally funneling foreign donations to U.S. officials and political committees, including a $325,000 contribution to the Pro-Trump SuperPac America First.
Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and claimed he didn't know Parnas or Fruman; however, there have been nearly a dozen documented interactions between POTUS and the two Giuliani associates.
"President Trump knew exactly what was going on," he told Maddow. "He was aware of all my movements. I wouldn't do anything without the consent of Rudy Giuliani or the president. I have no intent, I have no reason to speak to any of these officials."
Parnas and Fruman allegedly worked with Giuliani to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. This, of course, supports the accusations that Trump withheld Ukraine's military aid in an attempt to dig up dirt on Trump's political opponent; but the president insists he froze the money not for political gain, but because he was concerned about Ukraine's corruption.
"It was all about Joe Biden, Hunter Biden," Parnas said. "And also Rudy had a personal thing with the [Paul] Manafort stuff, the black ledger. That was another thing that they were looking into. But it was never about corruption. It was strictly about Burisma, which included Hunter Biden and Joe Biden."
On Wednesday, House Democrats delivered articles of impeachment against Trump to the Senate. The impeachment stems from Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's July 25 phone call, in which POTUS encouraged Zelensky to investigate the family of the former vice president.
Trump was later impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
