Giuliani ‘heartbroken’ by Lev Parnas’ ‘stupid lies,’ says he’s trying to avoid jail
Exclusive: Rudy Giuliani responds to accusations from Lev Parnas
President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani says he was ‘misled’ by Lev Parnas in an exclusive interview on ‘The Ingraham Angle.’
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Monday he is «heartbroken» by what he called lies being told by his former associate, Ukrainian-born businessman Lev Parnas.
Giuliani, President Trump’s personal attorney, said Monday on «The Ingraham Angle» that he used to be close to Parnas and was even the godfather to his child.
«Obviously, I was misled by him,» he said, after host Laura Ingraham played a portion of Parnas’ interview with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow. «I still feel sorry for him.»
Parnas told Maddow that while he was in contact with officials in Ukraine, he would «not do anything without the consent of Rudy Giuliani or [President Trump].»
«I have no intent, I have no reason to speak to any of these officials. It’s all about Joe Biden, Hunter Biden — also Rudy had a personal thing with the [Paul] Manafort stuff.»
On «The Ingraham Angle,» Giuliani said Parnas committed several «misrepresentations» during his lengthy MSNBC interview. He said that he did not want to go into too much detail, but would earnestly welcome the opportunity to testify before Congress on the matter.
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«I wouldn’t mind being called as a witness for a lot of reasons, including being able to reveal the unbelievable amount of corruption that went on between the Democratic Party and Ukraine all throughout the Obama Administration. I think people will be astounded to know the hundreds of millions of dollars that illegally passed hands between Americans and Ukrainians.» the former mayor said.
«I will tell you — that [Parnas], in very large part, did not tell the truth,» Giuliani continued.
He said Parnas had claimed to have been part of a meeting during a White House Hanukkah party in which Trump «deputized» him as a «representative.»
«Four people in that meeting — myself, [Parnas’] former partner Igor Fruman, and two others say that’s absolutely untrue — and the meeting never took place.»
Ingraham said that, if true, it would likely show that Parnas was not being directed by-proxy through Giuliani.
«It indicates he lied, misrepresented,» the ex-mayor responded. «Like Michael Cohen did.»
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Giuliani added that Parnas reportedly «put out» the story that claimed Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., met with Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin in Austria in 2018. Nunes has previously claimed on Fox News that he was never in Vienna at the time, and Giuliani made similar remarks to that extent in his interview. The lawmaker also sued CNN in December for defamation, relating to their reporting of the story.
Shokin was the prosecutor whose firing was referenced on videotape by former Vice President Joe Biden.
«Lev Parnas once again lied,» said Giuliani. «Devin Nunes was not in Vienna at that time, his passport demonstrates that.»
«The man is a demonstrated liar. … He didn’t just lie, he lied stupidly — a stupid lie is when your partner Igor Fruman can contradict you. A stupid lie is when there is a tape recording that can contradict you. A stupid lie is when there is a passport that can contradict you.»
When asked by Ingraham about Parnas’ motivation for allegedly lying, Giuliani again claimed that the motivation is «not to go to prison — the same thing as Michael Cohen.»
Cohen, formerly an attorney for then-businessman Trump, testified before Congress about issues related to Trump and the 2016 election.
Giuliani later shook his head when he listened to another clip of the Parnas-Maddow interview, in which Parnas claimed the ex-mayor was in contact with Attorney General William Barr about Ukraine.
