By Vicky Ward, CNN
Updated 1:22 PM ET, Fri February 7, 2020
New York (CNN)Stored in devices seized from Lev Parnas by law enforcement, there’s a 34-second cell phone video of Rudy Giuliani relishing a bullfight. There are also photos of Donald Trump’s personal attorney posing with two matadors, a flamenco dancer twirling her skirt and an image of the father of Venezuela’s opposition leader beside a tray of hors d’oeuvres on the lawn of a Spanish castle.
The videos and photographs of Giuliani’s trip to Spain, obtained exclusively by CNN, show the efforts Parnas went through to document and save a trove of information. They have aided a slow-drip campaign by Parnas’ legal team to keep the indicted Giuliani associate in the limelight as he builds a defense for his indictment, and could plague Giuliani—and ultimately the President—well after impeachment has passed.
Last week, Parnas and his attorney Joseph Bondy made a show of traveling to Washington and walking up to the US Senate, with cameras in tow. The two knew full well that Parnas could be turned away from the impeachment trial because he was wearing an ankle bracelet, an electronic device that violates the Senate chamber rules.
The stunt came days after Parnas’ lawyer released an 83-minute recording from an April 2018 Trump International Hotel fundraiser where President Donald Trump discusses firing former US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, with Parnas and his estranged business partner Igor Fruman.
Fruman made the recording, and Parnas’ lawyer made it public. Yovanovitch was recalled from her post about a year later.
Parnas and Fruman were indicted for campaign finance violations last year by federal prosecutors in New York. They have pleaded not guilty. Parnas’ role as Giuliani’s alleged proxy in Ukraine and the information he possesses became an intriguing part of the impeachment hearings. Fruman and his legal team are not cooperating with the impeachment inquiry and declined to comment for this story.
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Article URL : https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/07/politics/lev-parnas-exclusive-images-giuliani/index.html