Lev Parnas: Devin Nunes was 'involved in getting all this stuff on Biden'

Devin Nunes.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Lev Parnas said he was "in shock" when he saw Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) participating in President Trump's impeachment hearings late last year, because he knew Nunes was linked to the very scandal that launched the inquiry.

Parnas, an indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani, has been charged with campaign finance violations. He told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Wednesday he did not have "much of a relationship" with Nunes, but they did meet "several times" at a Trump hotel. Nunes had "something to do with the Ethics Committee, so he couldn't be in the spotlight," so he introduced Parnas to his aide, Derek Harvey. Nunes, Parnas explained, "was looking into this Ukraine stuff also, wanted to help out. And they gave me Derek Harvey to deal with."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Nunes is the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, which led the impeachment investigation. Parnas said he was "in shock when I was watching the hearings and I saw Devin Nunes sitting up there. There was a picture of Derek Harvey back there, sitting. I texted my attorney because I couldn't believe this was happening." They were "involved in getting all of this stuff on Biden," Parnas said, adding that he set up Skype interviews between Harvey and Ukrainian prosecutors who claimed to have damaging information about Biden. It was "hard to see them lie like that," Parnas said. "It's scary. [Nunes] knew very well that he knew what was going on, what was happening. He knows who I am."

YouTube YouTube
Watch On

Nunes previously said he couldn't "recall" having a phone conversation with Parnas, but during an interview with Fox News conducted at the same time the Parnas interview was airing on MSNBC, Nunes said he "remembered that call, which was very odd and random."

Explore More
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.