In a pre-taped CNN interview that aired Thursday night, Lev Parnas, an indicted associate to Rudy Giuliani, alleged that many Republicans won’t speak out against President Donald Trump for fear that he’ll have the Justice Department and Attorney General Bill Barr investigate them.
During the second part of the pre-taped interview, Parnas told CNN anchor Anderson Cooper that while “loyalty goes so far,” there are “a lot of people in the Republican party” who “don’t agree with what [Trump’s] doing.”
“But they’re scared,” he said. “He gets away with everything, and especially with Attorney Bill Barr on his side, the Justice Department…I mean, a lot of people are scared. They don’t want to get investigated.”
“People are scared of being investigated by the Justice Department on behalf of President Trump, you’re saying?” Cooper asked.
“I think so,” Parnas replied.
The CNN anchor asked if that scared him.
“It scares me a lot,” the Giuliani associate said.
After he was indicted in the fall on campaign finance law violations, Parnas came forward to the House Intelligence Committee with documents to inform them about how he helped Giuliani get ex-Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch fired as part of the pressure campaign against Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky.
Parnas has also recently appeared on MSNBC to reveal that Trump knew exactly what he was up to in Ukraine, directly implicating the President in the Ukraine scheme.
Throughout the impeachment proceedings, which began as a result of the scandal, most Republicans have stood by Trump and defended his decision to freeze congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine after pushing Zelensky to announce an investigation into Joe Biden.
Watch Parnas below:
Lev Parnas says a lot of Republicans are too afraid of DOJ investigating them on Trump's behalf to speak out. pic.twitter.com/CrASa53rUc
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) January 17, 2020
