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."
Parnas told Maddow he did not have to brief Harvey on Giuliani's attempts to dig up dirt in Ukraine on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, because Harvey "knew about it already. He had a lot of information already."
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."
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."