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Two associates of President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani pushed a GOP congressman to seek the ouster of the US ambassador to Ukraine at the same time as the associates were helping to bankroll the congressman’s campaign, according to a federal indictment and campaign finance records.
The indictment of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, which was unsealed today, shows how they discussed with former Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas to seek Marie Yovanovitch’s ouster. Both were later accused of lying to investigators about illegal campaign contributions they made to Sessions.
The indictment alleges that a “Congressman-1” had been the beneficiary of approximately $3 million in independent expenditures by “Committee-1.”
CNN has identified the committee as America First Action, a pro-Trump super PAC. Global Energy Producers, a company created by Parnas and Fruman, donated $325,000 to the pro-Trump super PAC and are alleged to have concealed the true source of that money. The PAC said in a statement that they placed the money in a “segregated bank account” and have not used the funds.
Parnas and Fruman met with Sessions at a pro-Trump super PAC event in 2018.
Sessions is not named in the indictment, nor is he charged with the crime.
“At and around the same time, Parnas and Fruman committed to raising those funds for Congressman-1. Parnas met with Congressman-1 and sought Congressman-1’s assistance in causing the U.S. Government to remove or recall the then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine,” the indictment states.
Sessions did not respond to phone calls and text messages seeking comment from CNN.
Some context: Fruman and Parnas were detained at Dulles airport outside of Washington last night and are expected to appear in court in Virginia on today. Both associates are connected to efforts to dig up dirt in Ukraine on Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. The case is being prosecuted by the Southern District of New York.
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