Rudy Giuliani’s Ukraine Fixers Arrested. Parnas, Fruman Had Stonewalled Congress In Impeachment Probe

On Monday, media reports detailed a scheme involving a cabal of Republican businessmen who allegedly touted their ties to Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani while attempting to orchestrate a management shakeup at Naftogaz, Ukraine’s state gas company.

The idea, four sources told AP, was to install new management who would then channel business to allies of Trump. Ultimately, Rick Perry took it up, pressuring the country to oust Naftogaz’s supervisory board.

Perry reportedly suggested Naftogaz then add Houston oil executive Robert Bensh to the board, along with Texas private equity chief Michael Bleyzer.

Read more: Cabal Of GOP Businessmen Touted Trump, Giuliani Ties In Perry-Backed Ukraine Gas Scheme

Earlier this year, a pair of Giuliani’s clients chatted with Naftogaz “to pitch themselves as suppliers of US natural gas”, Politico wrote last week, citing other media reports.

Those clients were Trump donors Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. In addition to being Trump donors, they are key witnesses in the impeachment inquiry for their role in assisting Giuliani in efforts to compel Ukraine to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden.

They (Parnas and Fruman) were arrested yesterday at Dulles International Airport and charged with campaign finance violations. The two were attempting to leave the country.

“Two Soviet-born donors to a pro-Trump fundraising committee who helped Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to investigate Democrat Joe Biden were arrested on criminal charges of violating campaign finance rules, including funneling Russian money into President Trump’s campaign”, the Wall Street Journal, which originally broke the news, said, adding that Parnas and Fruman… have been under investigation by the US attorney’s office in Manhattan, and are expected to appear in federal court in Virginia later on Thursday”.

That is “not good, not good”, to quote a favorite Trumpism.

House Democrats were drafting a subpoena for Parnas and Fruman on the assumption they wouldn’t show for scheduled depositions. Hilariously, the two Florida businessmen are being represented by John Dowd, who quit Trump’s defense team during the Mueller probe.

Prosecutors say Parnas and Fruman raised money for an unidentified congressman (likely former Texas Rep. Pete Sessions), and then looked to him to help orchestrate the removal Marie Yovanovitch “at the request of one or more Ukrainian government officials”. That’s according to the indictment, which also details a marijuana scheme involving two other defendants (David Correia and Andrey Kukushkin) and an unidentified Russian businessman. Yovanovitch was, of course, recalled this year by Trump. Her ouster is one of the issues at the heart of the whistle-blower complaint.

Earlier this week, the two men – who, again, were instrumental in hawking purported “dirt” from Ukraine about Biden and Hillary Clinton – indicated they wouldn’t comply with congressional document requests and wouldn’t appear for depositions from the three House committees overseeing the impeachment inquiry.

“Parnas and Fruman will not respond to a deadline for documents and do not plan to appear for depositions scheduled for Thursday and Friday”, The Miami Herald wrote Monday, citing Dowd. The Herald has documented this story at length.

Last month, the paper wrote that according to Parnas, Ukraine’s government “has access to information on alleged wrongdoing by Joe Biden and his son Hunter and other US officials overseas, but the US government proved indifferent to receiving it through official channels”.

That, Parnas swears, is why he and Fruman had to work through Giuliani. “I got certain information and I thought it was my duty to hand it over”, Parnas told the Herald on September 26.

Parnas, The New York Times reminds you, helped connect Giuliani to Ukrainian prosecutors.

In any event, the two men are in custody now. On Thursday afternoon, they were subpoenaed by House investigators as expected.

“Your clients are private citizens who are not employees of the Executive Branch. They may not evade requests from Congress for documents and information necessary to conduct our inquiry”, Democrats said, in a letter to Dowd. “They are not exempted from this requirement merely because they happen to work with Mr. Giuliani, and they may not defy congressional subpoenas merely because President Trump has chosen the path of denial, defiance, and obstruction.”

One can’t help but wonder if, facing other charges in a separate case, they might suddenly become more willing to cooperate with House Democrats.

Oh, and they might want to avoid asking Rudy for legal advice in the future. “They had a campaign finance issue”, Giuliani told the Times last month, in an effort to downplay the two mens’ legal problems.

“I referred them to a campaign finance expert who pretty much resolved it”, he went on to say.

Apparently not, Rudy. Apparently not.

Indictment

The-SDNY-Indictment-of-Lev-Parnas-Igor-Fruman

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12 thoughts on “Rudy Giuliani’s Ukraine Fixers Arrested. Parnas, Fruman Had Stonewalled Congress In Impeachment Probe

      1. At some level I would love to agree with you, but the latest Fox poll shows a majority not only support the inquiry but what him removed from office. BTW: The swing states he needs are hurting under the tariffs don’t be surprised when the is a wonderful “deal” later today.

  1. it really hurts to see a former icon like Ghouliani degenerate in real time on live TV.
    He could have been a hero for pretty much the rest of his life, but no, for some reason he had to hitch his wagon to the “Trump Train”.
    Don’t get me wrong, I don’t feel sorry for him, it was his own decision.
    Still, I will never understand why formerly intelligent people succumb to a bloated reality TV star who claims to be “the Chosen One”

    1. I recently watched a Netflix episode ‘Explained’ about cults. Your last sentence made me think of that. Actually fits in quite nicely with that narrative.

    2. I suspect that a CAT scan would show a bunch of stroke damage in Ghouliani’s once normal brain. That would be one explanation for the madness.

      1. look at those mug shots. what a couple of thugs. talk about lowlife. to think that these are the kind of people who have had access to the White House. caught trying to leave the country! I wonder how many others have slipped out of the net. you know, we are extremely lucky this bunch, Drump and the rest, are none to bright. imagine if they were a smart bunch of thugs.

        1. The problem is that “smart” is a relative term….Drumpf and gang are out-smarting almost 50% of the US voters. A US president that is effectively (if not literally) a Russian operative…how dumb is America?

  2. wow this seems to lead straight back to russian collusion, on the surface at least. russian born, give $ to campaigns to win influence, then want to get on the board or control ukraine natl gas company……gas a major topic for russian oligarchs selling to europe. and now they are trying to flee the country? I’d love to know where to and what passports they had on them.

    there is no chance of removal fromoffice until the markets/economy tank; then there will be no defense of djt by his followers.

  3. yeah, that’s a scary thought.
    The damage would certainly be even worse.
    Yet, somehow one would feel less insulted than by the sheer blatant stupidity currently on display.

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