Lev Parnas’ attorney Joseph Bondy indicated that the recording of President Trump telling two associates of Rudy Giuliani that he wanted them to “take out” Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch in April 2018 is just the beginning.
The recording, which was first reported by ABC Friday, features Trump telling Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman to “take [Yovanovitch] out!” after he was told that the career foreign service officer was “badmouthing” him in Kyiv. Fruman reportedly made the recording during a small April 30, 2018 dinner at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.
During an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper Saturday night, Bondy said he wasn’t sure why Fruman made the recordings.
“I don’t know why he made the recordings,” Bondy said. “Some people make recordings. They like to take pictures. I can’t ascribe any kind of motive beyond that.”
After Bondy confirmed that Fruman also sent the recordings to Parnas, Cooper asked Bondy if his client has more recordings with Trump.
“Yes,” Bondy said, regarding Parnas having more recordings and the recordings also featuring Trump.
When pressed on whether Parnas plans to release the recordings, Bondy replied “perhaps” and argued that the latest anti-Yovanovitch recording by Trump was “important” to release to the public.
“We’ve sent recordings to the House Intelligence Committee also,” Bondy said. “This seems to be the recording that certainly addresses the issue of the Ambassador and we thought it was really important to get that recording out in public today.”
Earlier this month, Parnas told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that Trump “knew exactly what was going on” as he worked with Rudy Giuliani to pressure the Ukrainian government to dig up false allegations against the Bidens.
Watch Bondy’s remarks below:
Bondy: Parnas has more recordings pic.twitter.com/uELVV8wNTd
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) January 26, 2020
