Lev Parnas Tells Maddow Trump’s Investigations Were Not About Ukraine Corruption: They Were ‘All About’ the Bidens

Lev Parnas, the indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani, disputed the idea — put forth by President Donald Trump and his surrogates — that the commander-in-chief was concerned about broader corruption in Ukraine, and instead argued he specifically targeted Joe and Hunter Biden.

Speaking with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Wednesday night, Parnas said that Trump knew that Giuliani and Parnas were in Ukraine to try to harm Biden’s political career.

The impeachment of Trump by the House of Representatives was based on allegations he pressured Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden. Trump has maintained he did not target Biden for his personal political gain, but because he was concerned about corruption in Ukraine.

“It was all about Joe Biden, Hunter Biden,” Parnas said. “And also Rudy had a personal thing with the [Paul] Manafort stuff, the black ledger. That was another thing that they were looking into. But it was never about corruption. It was strictly about Burisma, which included Hunter Biden and Joe Biden.”

Parnas went on to claim that there was indeed a quid pro quo sought by Trump and that “all aid” to Ukraine was contingent upon there being an investigation into Joe Biden. We’ll be posting that segment of the interview momentarily.

Watch above, via MSNBC.