Lev Parnas Interview on Rachel Maddow

Rachel interviewed Parnas in New York today, on the SAME DAY the impeachment articles were transmitted to the Senate.

The interview is dynamite.

Parnas speaks clearly and forthrightly (and without any accent!) about the Ukraine scheme and places Trump, Pence, Barr and Guiliani at the center of it. Astonishing.

And Devin Nunes.  Holy crap.  This interview will reverberate for weeks.

In Rachel's handoff to Lawrence O'Donnell, Lawrence asked her what the most important revelation of the interview was, for her.  She thought a moment and said, the involvement of Mike Pence.  The central role he played in the scheme for which Donald Trump was impeached.  Pence not only did not attend Zelensky's inauguration BECAUSE Zelensky failed to announce an investigation into the Bidens, but ALSO Pence met with Zelensky Sept 1 in Poland specifically to get that public announcement.


This makes -- as Rachel stated -- the impeachment of Trump for HIS OWN ROLE in the Ukraine scandal a whole different thing now that Pence too is implicated.

Holy crap.

Already headlines on Huffington Post.

And CNN.

Fox news, predictably, got hold of entirely the wrong end of the stick and reports on the nothing-butter in the interview, missing entirely the jaw-dropping revelations that will rock the Senate trial.

Part II of the Lev Parnas interview is already making headlines.

• Energy Sec't Rick Perry was intimately involved with the Ukraine scheme
  
  
• Trump tried to fire Yovanovitch "at least 4 or 5 times" because Guiliani claimed (falsely) that she was bad-mouthing Trump.  The State Dept refused to do it.
  
  
• Mike Pompeo initially refused to fire Yovanovitch, then later surrendered to pressure from Trump & Giuliani
  

At least 4-5 Senators have come out and said that Parnas's revelations make it IMPERATIVE that he testify before the Senate.  Perry, Bolton, Giuliani, Pompeo and maybe even Trump himself could also be subpoenaed.  Of course, it wasn't stated which party these Senators belong to.

Over the weekend the trial managers will be writing their cases.  Rachel's bombshell evidence will no doubt drive the Democrats' trial preparation.

Along with the GAO ruling that Trump's delay of the Ukraine security assistance was flat-out illegal.  Republicans can no longer claim "no laws were broken."

All they can work with is, laws were broken but they don't rise to the level of an impeachable offense.  That'll be a hard row to hoe, given the precedent it would set.

But it's impossible to predict how low these Republicans are willing to stoop.

There was discussion tonight, on Chris Hayes IIRC, about whether Moscow Mitch has the votes to move for a dismissal on Tuesday.  The consensus among his panel was no, he does not.  It would take only 51 votes to table the impeachment trial, and Republicans hold 53 seats in the Senate.  But he could very easily lose THREE Republican Senators in favor of a real trial and it he does he can't table it.

Over the weekend I can imagine ENORMOUS pressure being brought to bear on Murkowski, Collins and Romney, with vast promises being made about projects in their districts and support for their pet legislation.

We'll see on Tuesday how good a deal-maker Mitch is.  He has the weight of the entire Russian government to back his promises.

Lev is repeating his story on AC360.  This interview is dated tomorrow(?)

Anderson Cooper is covering the exact same ground, and acts like he's never heard Lev's answers to the same questions from Rachel.  The video says it's in six parts, but the last 4 are excerpts of the first 2.



And he's wearing Rachel's glasses.

Robert Hyde got visited by the FBI today, based on Rachel's interview.

If Donald John Trump is compelled to testify before the Senate, he will lie about his involvement and many provable facts.  Such lies before a Senate impeachment trial are exactly what got Bill Clinton impeached.

Quote :

The only way to get to the bottom of this is to hear from Trump -- under oath. After all, who else knows more about the the details surrounding the allegations contained in the first article of impeachment charging Trump with "abuse of power" which states, "... Trump solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, in the 2020 United States presidential election ... in pursuit of personal political benefit."

Same goes for article two, "obstruction of Congress," where it charges that Trump "directed Executive Branch agencies, offices and officials not to comply with" subpoenas served by the House.

In fact, Trump declared in November that he would "strongly consider" testifying in the impeachment inquiry that was then being conducted. And before that, during special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation examining "any links and/or coordination" between the Russian governing and he Trump campaign, when asked if he would testify, Trump boasted, "I'm looking forward to it actually," adding, "I would do it under oath, absolutely."

Trump testifying at this trial is consistent with GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's desire to follow the precedent of former President Bill Clinton's 1999 impeachment trial. In his trial, President Clinton's grand jury testimony -- prior to the trial -- was a big part. Clinton's testimony was quoted in the briefs of the GOP House managers in numerous places, concerning the charges that Clinton committed perjury and obstructed justice. And Clinton's testimony was cited by the GOP House managers in making their case, such as when Rep. James Sensenbrenner stated, "I wish to point out four glaring examples of William Jefferson Clinton's perjurious, false and misleading statements to the grand jury."

The senators who will serve as jurors need to know all the facts to reach an informed verdict. Not calling Trump to testify under oath will turn this constitutionally mandated trial into a partisan cover-up. The stakes for our nation are simply too high to allow that to happen.

In keeping with the precedent of Clinton's trial, the testimony of Trump should be a part of this one.

Rachel’s interview has officially been added to the impeachment documentation.

Sean Hannity wrote:

Nobody can dispute any of this.

Except Sean. Who disputes ALL facts.

The interview continues to make headlines. Barr has some 'splainin' to do....

I like this too.

https://www.facebook.com/bluedemwarriors/photos/a.1559462974323854/2550761201860688/?type=3&theater