Lev Parnas testified at the Biden impeachment hearing that Rudy Giuliani knew that he was pushing Russian disinformation.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) asked Parnas, “At what point did Mr. Giuliani begin working directly with Russian agents and Russian assets, individuals who would later become sanctioned by Donald Trump’s own Treasury Department for spreading propaganda and disinformation against Joe Biden?”
Parnas answered, “It was sometime in probably around May or June of 2019.”
Raskin asked, “Were you aware, was Mr. Giuliani aware that these people were basically just doing the bidding of Vladimir Putin?”
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Parnas said, “Absolutely.”
Raskin continued, “So he had no hesitation about spreading lies that were concocted by Russian agents?”
Parnas answered, “As long as it fit the narrative, absolutely not.”
Raskin asked Parnas how Giuliani got Russian disinformation into the media, “How were you and Giuliani able to take these false allegations peddled by corrupt officials and Russian agents and promote and amplify them here in the United States in our political system? Weren’t media groups skeptical of your claims?”
Parnas explained, “Most media groups, I’d probably say all except for Fox and a few other right-wing media groups, didn’t want to take any of the information, and that aggravated Rudy Giuliani and John Solomon and other players. And the main group being pushed through was Fox News, Sean Hannity and some other media personalities. But then there were also other people that were doing the bidding for the Russian people in Congress, like Senator Ron Johnson, like Congressman Pete Sessions, who sits here right now that was with me from the very beginning of this journey into finding the digging dirt on Joe Biden.”
Video:
You will probably never see this on Hannity as itâs incredibly damaging pic.twitter.com/0v4cHScfAw
â Acyn (@Acyn) March 20, 2024
The most crucial piece of information to come out of this impeachment hearing was confirmation that Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump, Fox News personalities like Sean Hannity, and Republican members of Congress are all knowingly pushing Russian misinformation.
Lev Parnas is an eyewitness who worked as Rudy Giuliani’s right-hand man in the scheme to dig up or manufacture dirt on Joe Biden.
Parnas’s testimony is unlikely to break through to the highest levels of corporate media on its own, but it should be expected that the Biden campaign will seize on this information and make it part of the president’s argument about protecting democracy. The Republican Party will happily use Republican disinformation if it thinks it will help them win an election.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelorâs Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association