Lev Parnas testifies to House

You remember Lev.

Parnas, who had cooperated in Trump's first impeachment inquiry into his dealings with Ukraine, was convicted of fraud and campaign finance crimes in 2021. He was sentenced to 20 months in prison and ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution for the charges.

[...]

In a statement to NBC News, Parnas’ attorney, Joe Bondy, said that since his client first appeared in the Southern District of New York in October 2019, he had been prepared to meet with federal prosecutors and provide information to them, including about Trump and his private counsel.

“We asked (then-Attorney General) Bill Barr to recuse himself over what we believed was his actual conflict of interest, with no response,” Bondy said. “We reached out to former U.S. Attorney Scott Brady’s Office to proffer information, with no reply at all. Had anyone let Lev speak back then, perhaps America would have been in a vastly different place today.”

  NBC News

"He" being Trump, of course.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 11:40 am:

Neeeeext

On Tuesday, 20 Republicans voted against [Jordan], putting him far below the threshold he needed to be speaker. Twenty-two Republicans voted against him in a second vote on Wednesday. Twenty-five Republicans opposed him in a third vote, putting him even further from the speakership.

[...]

After the third failed vote, Republicans took a vote by secret ballot on whether Jordan should remain the nominee. He lost that vote handily, losing his status as the Republican nominee for speaker.

The speaker runs the business of the House and controls the floor schedule and which bills come to the floor. Without one, the House cannot operate.

[...]

Democrats have all voted for their leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, in each of the speakership elections. Jeffries has said there have been “informal talks” with Republicans, but Democrats have been quiet about any negotiations. A pre-condition for any Democratic support for a speaker appears to be that they would allow any bipartisan bills come up for a vote.

  Guardian

As long as the House remains without a speaker, the chamber cannot advance any legislation, leaving members unable to pass critical bills like a stopgap government funding measure or an aid package for Israel and Ukraine. Government funding is set to run out in less than a month, raising the threat of a federal shutdown next month.

[...]

The conference is expected to return on Monday evening to hear from candidates for the speakership, with voting set for Tuesday. By that time, the House will have been without a speaker for three weeks.

  Guardian

UPDATE 08:06 am:

Donalds got votes in Kevin McCarthy's nomination fiasco.  This is what I know about Donalds:

Look 'em up if you want.  I'll wait until I see one of them actually make it to a vote.

UPDATE 09:00 am:

Even if Emmer were to wind up finding the 217 votes it would take to win on the House floor and become speaker, the source said, "He can expect a tumultuous speakership. That’s the last thing the conference needs right now."

The divide between Trump and Emmer runs deep.

Emmer voted to certify the 2020 election results, bucking pressure from the former president and his allies to overturn Joe Biden's victory. Emmer, who ran the campaign arm of House Republicans in the 2022 cycle, reportedly implored candidates not not "be distracted" by Trump and, instead, stick to focusing on policies that matter to voters.

[...]

[However,] Emmer [...] spoke glowingly of Trump during the midterms. He said Trump was a "fantastic ally" during the elections.

  The Messenger

UPDATE 10/22/2023:

I think there are 9.

UPDATE 10/23/2023:

Impeachment is just the tip of the iceberg

There's a huge shoe yet to drop, and we have no idea what will happen when it does.

You need to listen to this podcast from The Bulwark. ("Charlie Sykes and guests discuss the latest news from inside Washington and around the world. No shouting, grandstanding, or sloganeering. Conservative, conscientious, and civil.)

Here's the article they reference, of the same title as the podcast.

"The real reason for getting the impeachment trial done fast is defensive: Republicans want to dispense with their Constitutional responsibility before the public realizes there is a second Russia-focused federal criminal investigation underway and that Trump, once again, is at the center of it."

Put in another order for orange fabric

It seems to be a bottomless Trump pit.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Scrambling to clean up the connections

Correia, as far as I know, is still "at large".*

[Lev] Parnas listed “Fraud Guarantee” and “Loan Crime Investigation Group” as his employers on federal political contribution forms, along with a firm called Global Energy Producers. That third business — ostensibly dedicated to Liquefied Natural Gas deals — was used by Parnas as a corporate conduit or “straw donor” to obscure the true source of campaign donations, in violation of federal election law, a federal indictment alleges.

Parnas and alleged co-conspirator Igor Fruman are associates of Trump lawyer/consigliere Giuliani. The pair were eager to profit from business dealings in Ukraine, and allegedly used illicit political donations as leverage in seeking the ouster of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine on behalf of local officials who were hostile to her tenure.

Parnas and Fruman have also been implicated in the Giuliani plot to get Ukrainians to dig up dirt on Joe and Hunter Biden.

[...]

The duo had been due to testify today in the House’s impeachment inquiry. They were reportedly arrested at Dulles airport, attempting to flee the country.

[...]

The pair allegedly fraudulently listed Global Energy Partners as the source of a $325,000 donation to a conservative independent expenditure committee using their own funds. Parnas also listed “Global Energy Partners” as his employer on a $2,700 contribution in 2018 to Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX). Sessions has been identified as “congressman 1” in the federal indictment, and this donation to him is described as fraudulent.

[...]

A review of federal campaign finance records reveals that Parnas listed other questionable — indeed, it seems, defunct — companies for his donation records. He lists “Fraud Guarantee” as his employer for a series of identical $661 donations to roughly twenty Republican state parties — from Alabama to Wyoming — in 2016. Fraud Guarantee’s mission, according to its website, is to “help reduce the risk of fraud as well as mitigate the damage caused by fraudulent acts.”
  Rolling Stone

Who came up with that name? It sounds like they're more apt to do fraud than prevent it, which I guess could be called truth in advertising.

According to Florida corporate records, the company was incorporated in 2013. However it appears to have been dissolved in 2014 for failing to file an annual report — well before the donations in question. An email to the company’s only listed contact information bounced back Thursday morning.

Parnas is listed as co-founder and CEO on the company’s website.

Or may not be by now.

“After seeing the best and the worst of the financial industry, especially the problems caused by investor fraud, of which he himself was a victim,” [Parnas' bio states], “Mr. Parnas decided his next business venture would be protecting other investors from losses due to fraud.” Parnas’ co-founder in this venture is listed as David Correia, who was also indicted this week on the federal conspiracy charges.

In another group of donations, Parnas lists a third company name: “Loan Crime Investigation Group.” This entity is cited as his employer for a $3,300.00 donation to the National Republican Congressional Committee, a $5,000.00 donation to the Great America Committee, and a $2,7000 donation to Kevin McCarthy, today the GOP House Minority Leader. These donations were all made on June 29th of last year.

I had a feeling Kevin McCarthy's name was going to come up in this conspiracy. In fact, I thought he might be "Congressman-1" in the indictment.

Florida business records record that a firm called The Loan Crime Investigation Group was incorporated in 2008; it was dissolved in 2009 for the same apparent failure to file an annual report. While both Loan Crime Investigation Group and Fraud Guarantee were incorporated in Boca Raton Florida, where Parnas has resided, neither of the company’s initial corporate financial filings name him.

Nothing at all suspicious.

I wonder where Correia is. I can guess what he's doing, though: Lawyering up.  Unless he's going to ground somewhere in Argentina.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 10/16:

"Ukrainegate" is going to round up a whole buttload of GOP whores

Former U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions is an unnamed member of Congress mentioned in an indictment against two business associates of President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, according to NBC News.

The two Soviet-born men, Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas, were arrested late Wednesday night at Dulles Airport outside of Washington, D.C, per ABC News.

  Texas Tribune

According to an NPR report I just heard, at the international gate with one-way tickets. (UPDATE: Also, they met with Rudy Giuliani just shortly before they went to the airport.  It seems likely that he advised them to get out of the country on info from someone in DOJ - Barr? - that they were going to be apprehended.  I'm guessing the FBI had them tailed, as the agency has been investigating Giuliani's Ukraine activities  Much more to come in this story.)

The Wall Street Journal reported that the two men are accused of “violating campaign finance rules, including funneling Russian money into President Trump’s campaign.”

Regarding Sessions, the indictment against the two men states that they “committed to raise $20,000 or more for a then-sitting U.S. Congressman” who is referred to in the court document as “Congressman-1.” The indictment goes on to state that the congressman “had been the beneficiary of approximately $3 million” in donations from a campaign committee. NBC News and other outlets identified that person as Sessions and reported that the committee was a Trump-aligned super PAC.

Federal authorities alleged that around the same time, Parnas "sought Congressman-1's assistance in causing the U.S. government to remove or recall” the American ambassador to Ukraine at the time, Marie Yovanovitch.

[...]

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Sessions, in his capacity as House Rules Committee chairman, advocated for the ouster of Yovanovitch.

[...]

Previously, Sessions told the Wall Street Journal that his efforts to remove the ambassador were "in line with a broader concern among members of Congress that the administration wasn’t moving swiftly enough to put new ambassadors in place."

Ha. "New ambassadors" - what would be Congress' concern with replacing ambassadors?  And....which members of Congress?

Toward the end of Sessions' toughest — and unsuccessful — campaign for reelection last year, Giuliani headlined a fundraiser on his behalf.

Sessions is now running for Congress in the 17th Congressional District, which is about 90 miles from his former, Dallas-based 32nd District.

I'm gonna guess that's about to go belly up.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:







UPDATE:

Buzzfeed has been on this story since July.