this is according to lev parnas, according to what he told two sources contemporaneously, that lev parnas who speaks fluent russian, chris, would be tasked with going to ukraine where he and igor fruman have contacts high up in the government to give them the president's message. lev parnas talked about this as a secret mission, a crusade. he said, i'm working for the big guy. in ukraine, in government circles it was widely known he had had this white house meeting, that he was backed by the president. >> so rudy's lawyer comes back and says this guy's delusional. this meeting never happened. i don't know why he thinks that. why should we believe it did? >> well, as i said to rudy's lawyer, how come rudy giuliani spent so much time with mr. parnas and mr. fruman and not only that was tied in with them financially? furthermore, you do see this secret mission take start. and in its early stages it's quite successful. lev parnas and igor fruman go to ukraine in february and meet with president poroshenko. they said you need to announce public investigations and, in return, there will be a st

the president turned on lev parnas and now lev parnas wants to stand up and tell his story.s a flawed person. he's not got a perfect track record but his counsel will argue it doesn't mean they don't have a true story to tell. >> one person who will have to read it very closely, which many of you may not think, ambassador sondland because this could be his future. if he has one understanding of what and what he did. helping us understand what's in the morias a little bit better. there's an exclusive. you'll see it on cnn.com. did republicans just risk losing their biggest line of attack on the open impeachment hearings. i'm going to bring back in a gop lawmaker who says there's reason to what's he looking for next. did have it's a network that gives you... with coverage from big cities, to small towns. introducing t-mobile's 600mhz signal. no signal reaches farther or is more reliable. and it's built 5g ready. of millions of americans during the recession. so, my wife kat and i took action. we started a non-profit community bank with a simple theory - give people a fair deal

that originates with lev parnas?look, people are at their most credible when they're speaking under oath. i have no reason to believe that the information that bondy has told me on the record is incorrect. but it goes without saying without question at the statements bondy has made would carry significantly more weight were parnas to say them on the record and under oath to congress. so a big question that's open right now is whether parnas will end up going before congress, taking an oath and sharing what parnas' lawyer has shared with me. now, for parnas to do something like that, it would be incredibly risky in part, of course, because he's been indicted in the southern district of new york. so one possible avenue that his lawyers could potentially pursue and which lawyers sometimes pursue when they have a client who both faces criminal exposure before the justice department but also has information that's interesting to congress, one avenue they could look at is trying to get a specific type of immunity from cong

lev parnas as a translator.s tell cnn parnas has bragged dimitri was bank rollinging his lavish lifestyle telling them i'm the best paid interpreter in the world. >> federal prosecutors want to know what parnas, fruman and rudy giuliani were doing. giuliani insist hess did nothing illegal. there's a question now of his shadow foreign policy in ukraine didn't also involve some shadowy business deal. john and alisyn. >> our thanks to drew griffin. so much easier when you just follow the money. >> the roster of individuals involved, pay attention. >> the puzzle pieces magically come together. meanwhile, a stack of steven's e-mails have been revealed what he has to say about minorities and immigrations. we break down that in our reality check. >>> so this morning the white house is throwing its weight behind a senior aide who has been proven to traffic in white supremacist articles. >> full stop. >> john avalon with a reality check. >> that's right, guys. so amid the impeachment inquiry you might haves missed this,

lev parnas' new attorney told reuters that parnas is prepared to comply with requests for records andachment investigators. keep in mind it can be hard to keep the president's indicted associates clear. in fact one of his oldest political associates and closest confidants went on trial today. that's coming up, next. that's ct ♪ we would walk on the sidewalk ♪ ♪ all around the wind blows ♪ we would only hold on to let go ♪ ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ we need someone to lean on ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ we needed somebody to lean on ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ all we need is someone to lean on ♪ and my lack of impulse control,, is about to become your problem. ahh no, come on. i saw you eating poop earlier. hey! my focus is on the road, and that's saving me cash with drivewise. who's the dummy now? whoof! whoof! so get allstate where good drivers save 40% for avoiding mayhem, like me. sorry! he's a baby! we're oscar mayer deli fresh your very first sandwich,m... your mammoth masterpiece. and...whatever this was. because we make our meat with the good of the deli and no artificial preservatives. make ev

parnas is a key figure in the impeachment inquiry. >>> parnas's attorney is refuting president trump's. in a statement to the "washington post," the attorney says in part, that quote any being looking at the public record of the president and partners together, during intimate dinners, waving to each other at rallies, taking pictures together and parnas's alleged involvement with the president's lawyer rudy giuliani, could define that the president and parnas knew each other. if the president really did not know mr. parnas, it would imply a degree of ignorance that we are not prepared to attribute to him. photos posted to social media of parnas and his associate igor fruman indicted, show they have several interactions with the president since parnas first made a sizable donation to the trump campaign in 200016, including a dinner that was tended by 20 people at the trump hotel in washington by 15 people, and that was organized by the pro-trump super pack america first and attended by trump and don trump jr. and this photo was deleted the next day. and the following among a $325,000 do

cold water on parnas's activity. tried to argue parnas is just kind of, you know, puffing himself up. right? so, you know, the problem with guiliani, parnas, and nunes frankly is they all have a history of saying things that are not true and that makes it a little bit different as an outsider to really judge, you know, where the facts are here but, clearly, nunes has to tell his side of the story on the record and in full and hopefully will get the same account from parnas, which is what his lawyer wants him to do. >> well, i think at the end of the night tonight we're left with more questions than answers showing there is much more to this investigation. ryan lizza, thank you very much for being there and helping us sort it out. >>> hear what some of the military top officials are saying tonight after president trump tweeted he won't allow them to oust a navy seal from their elite force. that is next. plus, back in april, so long ago, joe biden wasn't even running. i hosted a town hall here on cnn with a then virtua

his attorneys hired parnas as a translator.ources tell cnn, parnas has bragged dimitri was bank rolling his lavish lifestyle of bodyguards and planes saying, i'm the best paid interpreter in the world. will prosecutors want to know what they were doing? guiliani insists nothing illega but there is a question his shadow policy in ukraine didn't also involve a shadowy business deal. >> excellent reporting as usual. thank you very much. >>> just ahead, is the white house telling all about president trump's unscheduled trip to the hospital. our chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta is standing by. . you definitely want to take advantage of all the benefits you can get. 2/3 of employees said that the workplace is an important source for personal savings and protection solutions. the workplace should be a source of financial security. keeping your people happy is what keeps your people. that's financial wellness. put your employees on a path to financial wellness with prudential. you may be learning about, medicare and supple

parnas' lawyer said.ut russia, but you will not impose russia-like rules on a free press in this country. all he had to say was it's not true. i would have relayed that in any explanation you offered, but you didn't deny it. you think you're helping this president, but how can you do that by undercutting our democracy? a lot of people are choosing political favor over the facts these days. they're misleading the american people, and they're empowering a false narrative. mr. nunes exercised his legs running up to the white house to check in with sensitive information even though he was the committee chair when he was supposed to be exercising oversight and checking power. being an elected official is supposed to be an honor. those men and women should represent the best of us, not the worst. well, your efforts are no longer in the dark. they are exposed to the light, and you know what follows the light? the heat, and that's coming soon. that's the argument. >>> the president's predecessor has a message for

"the washington post" even reports lev parnas told the president he needed to replace his u.s. ambassador to ukraine, and trump reportedly agreed. this would all make perfect sense except for one thing: parnas and fruman had zero experience in the gas business and could not have acted alone. >> parnas and fruman with no background in the oil, gas, natural resources area all of a sudden decided to form a company which you can only do in ukrainian or russia really with the blessing of the powers that be. and in this case it would be feartaj. >> a kremlin oligarch who made a fortune selling gas to ukraine. he's been fighting extradition to the united states since 2013 when he was charged in a bribery scheme. he's declared his innocence and lobbying to drop his case. attorneys for far nas and fruman refuse to answer questions about fiertaj, but they hired lev parnas as a translator. sources tell cnn he was bankrolling his lavish lifestyle of private planes and body guards telling them i'm the best-paid interpreter in the world. what is now at stake in the u.s. is the potential impe

lev parnas is being subpoenaed by congress. he's also facing indictment by the southern district of new york and clearly his lawyer wants lev parnas to be able to tell congress what he knows but with some form of immunity. >> he wants some protections. >> vicky, excellent reporting. >> thank you. >> thank you for bringing that to us. >>> this morning the president's attorney also said that he is not afraid of getting indicted and that when it comes to president trump, their relationship is good. he's not worried that the president could turn on him. >> i don't discuss -- i do not discuss my conversations with my client. you can assume that i talk to him early and often. >> yeah. >> and have a very, very good relationship with him and all of these comments, which are totally insulting -- >> yeah. >> i mean, i've seen things written like he's going to throw me under the bus. >> right. >> when i say that, he isn't, but i have insurance. >> you could read that response in many different ways. cnn white house correspondent jeremy di

start with lev parnas. before we discuss the significance of these meetings talk about the credibility of the claim, consider the source, consider the circumstances from your perspective. how many credibility should we put into this claim from lev parnas? >> be careful anything in his situation. currently under indictment by the southern district of new york, my old office, for f funneling illegal campaign contributions into the united states. that said, what's his incentive now? clearly trying to cooperate both with congress and with the southern district of new york to benefit himself, but the way that works is only if the person comes clean, tells the truth and really is supported by other backup documents. so if i'm a prosecutor or member of congress deciding whether i want to credit and believe lev parnas, i need to see backup documentation before i take that leap. >> so as relates to, let's say now if true, what does this portend for the question of the day? the potential impeachment of the president?

there any reason to question parnas's account? is there any evidence to back up his claim given we have nunes denying it altogether? >> we do know that lev parnas uses social media. there have been many photographs putting him in rooms with the president. they were at the white house together having a secret meeting while there was a hanukkah party going on. when lev parnas was arrested it was reported all of his electronic devices were taken and are now in the possession of the government. remember, he's facing indictment by the southern district of new york. his attorney has told me that he would not be making these claims were he not able to back them up with text messages, videos, photographs that are currently in the possession of the government. >> so it sounds like he wants to testify. he wants to talk about this. why hasn't he? >> he has been subpoenaed. his lawyer wants him basically to -- wants congress to give him immunity so that he can speak freely without basically affecting his fifth amendment rights. >> so we'll se

parnas when he was arrested. mr.s was very upset by president trump's plainly false statement that he did not know him, said mr. bondy, whose client has maintained that he has had extensive dealings with the president. what could parnas tell investigators about giuliani and the president? >> well, we don't exactly know the nature of the relationship and the business connections that they had. but we heard from the released transcript of yovanovitch's testimony today that they were looking to do business in ukraine, and she thought one of the reasons that rudy giuliani was so keen to remove her was that they wanted to do business in the ukraine that she wouldn't support, and she said, listen, i was the ambassador. i would support any legitimate u.s. business interests in the ukraine. so that all, when you put it together, suggests that maybe they were looking to do business that wasn't necessarily on the legitimate side. and if that's true, then lev parnas, of course, can tell investigators everything from a to z abou

lev parnas. >> so not certain whether or not lev parnas will be damaging to the president however doesr lev parnas could be damaging to rudy giuliani personally, in regards to the -- the conversation that you played about rudy giuliani the hanukkah party. cnn reported this month that rudy giuliani lev parnas i go ignore fruman also arrested in conjonion with lev parnas recently they alleging that cnn alleged reported three melt with president at hanukkah party december 2018 cnn reporting not based on word of lev parnas it is based on two people acquaintances of lev parnas important to make ib when it comes to whoofrnt lev parnas is actually providing information against president or president's attorney however there is a subsequent story from cnn, furthered by daily beast in which loe.v parnas alleged that ranking member of the house intelligence committee devin nunes last year met with ukrainian prosecutor victor shokhin, and while nuÑez has rerefuted those claims, giuliani backed nunes as in the interview with ed henry. >> giuliani said during in a interview if nuns did meet either

the idea was that parnas would offer the then president of ukraine a u.s.e visit if the president and his prosecutor general announced investigations into the bidens. >> again, investigations into the bidens is what the president was requesting, trying tone list these two guys to help him get that. we have a photo of parnas that he shared on social media from that night. here you see it's with parnas, fruman, the president, vice president pence, giuliani. clearly he wanted people to see the level of access. >> well, he did. until he went to ukraine in february. my sources say, it's quite interesting that there are no more photographs on social media of lev parnas with the president, who remember, ana, came out and said, the day after lev parnas was arrested, that he did not know these gentlemen. so, you know, it might look like that the president wanted some plausible deniability, some distance between himself and lev parnas. >> as i understand it, a lot has happened since then. you say that parnas also has maybe had a change of heart about how he feels abo

parnas hired giuliani for $500,000.eral indictment alleges they also began donating hundreds of thousands of dollars in foreign funds to republican causes, giving them incredible access to political fund-raising events, including at least ten with president trump. both have pleaded not guilty. "the washington post" even reports lev parnas told the president he needed to replace his u.s. ambassador to ukraine and trump reportedly agreed. this would all make perfect sense, except for one thing. parnas and fruman had zero experience in the gas business and could not have acted alone. >> parnas and fruman, with no background in the oil, gas, natural resources area, all of a sudden decided to form a company, which you can only do in ukraine or russia, really, with the blessing of the powers that be. and in this case, this would be feartash. >> reporter: feartash is dmitry feartash, a russian-connected oligarch who has been fighting extradition to the united states since 2013, when he was charged in a bribery scheme. he's dec

lev parnas has said he wants to cooperate. he's turned ovvarious evidence. there's pages of documents inside the white house about the review. what is your thought on the balance between speed in all of this and getting everything you can possibly get? >> well, first, thanks for having me. and we're obviously interested in all relevant testimony from all material witnesses and chairman schiff has said that the job is not necessarily over as more evidence comes in. i think oversight committee feels the same way and the judiciary committee.mm on the other hand we're in the midst of an impeachment investigation against the president of the united states. so what we have to look at is the table of evidence facing us with respect to the president's misconduct in office. we've seen overwhelming and uncontradicted evidence that he wanted investigations about joe biden and wanted conformation of the discredited 2016 conspiracy theory. basically trading the russian intervention for a mythical ukrainian intervention. we need all the evidence we can related to that. bu

parnas and mr. fruman working with rudy giuliani and they were interested in a different ambassador at the post because i guess they wanted to have business dealings in ukraine or additional business dealings. i didn't understand that because nobody at the embassy had ever met these two individuals. now, the president gets to appoint ambassadors and he gets to recall them, but in the case of ambassador yovanovitch, let's remember, her position and removal are also at the center of a criminal case that's currently being brought by the u.s. attorney in the southern district of new york against two men who are associates of the president's personal lawyer, rudy giuliani, who reportedly paid giuliani half a million dollars, who hung out at yankee games among other places with rudy and got prime seats at a 2018 trump rally and represented themselves to congress in an official letter as members of the president's legal team. and lets remember part of the charges against these two men is that they were giv

we don't know why parnas was paying him but why was he using parnas, frumman and a couple of other guys was just a legitimate option? >> that's right but said they kept promising giuliani information on biden and they promised him connections on biden and giuliani has been driven. i think his circle would say, sometimes to the point of madness over his quest to find dirt on joe biden and hunter biden. >> vicki ward, this is such important reporting because this general notion of pushback to the impeachment allegations is the president was just doing something in the public interest, but, boy, did he avoid the normal channels. thank you so much for the reporting. appreciate it. let us know when you have more. >> oh, i will. >>> two of the president's chief defenders. another big headline. they've been going to these closed-door depositions. then they've been going to the white house to talk to lawyers to help craft the president's defense. is that okay? let's put it to cuomo's court and a couple of other big issues next. ♪ born to be wild... born to be wild...♪ 25 cent boneless wings at

so essentially according to parnas' attorney, after he returned, devin nunes reached out to parnas. said he wanted to coordinate efforts to get dirt with giuliani and parnas' effort to get dirt, and essentially talked to him several times, and even had an aide communicating with parnas on who to reach out to who might have some of this information. so this here is not great for devin nunes and puts him in a complicated situation here given he was one of the leading questioners, also ranking member of the intelligence community. now, two of our colleagues reached out to nunese. he said in response to be perfectly clear i don't acknowledge any questions from you in this lifetime or the next lifetime. so a non-answer there, but no denial. also reached out to viktor shokin but have not heard back yet. >> so during the impeachment hearings -- sorry, victor. go ahead. >> thank you. democrats complained that the state department, we know during the impeachment hearings, that they weren't handing over documents. what more do we know about, about this claim and this connection between giulia

says it is. >> i'm saying forget about parnas.on't know that he's right about that. i think it was probably rudy's idea or someone around the president to get the announcement because that would put the stink on biden. if you really cared about corruption you don't want some announcement from a guy you don't trust in a guy you think is corrupt. you would want to see the action. but if he wanted action on biden, he would go to the doj. we do not have and you do not anticipate getting anyone to put the words in the mouth of the president i'm not giving them the aid until they give me the investigation. can he argue and people argue in good faith he didn't mean it that way? that was the other people. he had no corrupt intent, and that could save him. >> so, ralph waldo emerson once said actions speak so loudly i can't hear a word you're saying. so, what we have to look at are the actions that were taking place in the context of this phone call. with e know that by the time this phone call had taken place, the aid had already been wit

another of parna srksz's lawyers, told the "daily beast" that parnas quote helped arrange meetings in europe for representative devin nunes in 2018. the lawyer said which were arranged to help nunes' investigative work. he didn't specify what those entail. this was entered the to the congressional record during the public impeachment hearing. she's still work ogon the story. she's a politics reporter for "the daily beast." also with us and we've got comp ljted legal messes is barbara mcquaid from the eastern district of michigan and an msnbc legal contributor. let's start with you. what is this new information about lev parnas? >> i can tell you i spoke with bondy, the lawyer you referred to, earlier this evening. the first thing he said is that an aid to congressman nunes told parnas that nunes and his team were investigating the biden family and ukrainian energy company called burisma where hunter biden was a board member. those topics were of paramount importance to president trump and giuliani. they pressured the ukrainian government to pressure the specific topics. in hopes that

parnas is going to look for a way to cooperate.for joining us, chuck. really appreciate it. >> my pleasure. >> that is tonight's "last word." "the 11th hour" with brian williams starts now. >>> and the democrats just released transcripts of their own. they tell a remarkable story of our ambassador to ukraine realizingss rudy was conducting foreign policy, realizing she was being drummed out with no support from her boss, feeling threatened on the job and amazed to hear the president talking about her with a foreign leader on the phone. >>> also tonight, the increasing evidence that the ukraine corruption conspiracy theory dates back to paul manafort, who is now in prison.ck >>> and a big

parnas when parnas was arrested." parnas's new lawyer telling the times tonight, quote, mr. parnas was upset by president trump's plainly false statement that he did not know him. so, lev and igor are under arrest awaiting trial. at least one of them, the one who was reportedly paying rudy giuliani while simultaneously working for a mobbed up ukrainian oligarch close to the kremlin, he's now interested in cooperating with the impeachment inquiry. right? so watch this space. i mean, this is -- this is one of the news stories that -- this is one of a million different news developments over the course of what now feels like this endless always on news cycle, but, again, you just take it one piece at a time. today, for example, there was another federal appeals court ruling against president trump. again, on the issue of whether or not he can shield his taxes from investigators. this is one of yet another one of these cases in which the president's lawyers walked into court claiming these totally expansive unprecedented immunities for the president, not just that he's immune fr

parnas is an interesting guy because he's had a lot of financial problems.ntly a former business partner trying to collect a half million federal judgment from him that was won six years ago he's never been able to collect. he's been evicted from an apartment in 2014, and he's had a lot of these financial partners and at the same time he's traveling with the equivalent of roughly $6,000 in cash and he's got 8 credit or debit cards and apparently doing a ton of gambling, and those questions are integral to the criminal case against him. he's of course pleaded not guilty but the longer this goes on, the more these records keep coming out that keep raising these questions. >> growing calls of the resignation of donald trump's de facto immigration czar ahead. . ahhhh! giving one. the lexus december to rembember sales event lease the 2020 nx 300 for $329 a month for 27 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. some farms grow food. this one grows fuel. ♪ exxonmobil is growing algae for biofuels. that could one day power planes, propel ships, and fuel truck

lev parnas is a person who would potentially be able to provide that testimony. andriy yermak told me on the record that lev parnas was at the table when he is rudy had a conversation that is now proven to be incredibly fateful. parnas hasn't yet testified, so there's a lot of information out there that congressional democrats still don't have. >> that is great point.as as for rudy, swin, to betsy's point, he literally tells zelensky on the phone call to talk to rudy.ll he tells him to talk to two people. he will try -- he tries to do this with all things, sort of bend reality to his will, but there is no question he's directing people in conversation to get in contact with rudy. >> no, absolutely. and look as betsey was mentioning earlier about how in the open and how public this was, and it wasn't actually a secret. at best it was an open secret that giuliani was acting on president trump's behalf on thiu stuff is he was telling reporters on the record for h months in a very low kwashs manner in the months leading up to this scandal, long before the impeachment

a lawyer for rudy giuliani's indicted associate parnas parnas says his client is willing to tell congressrom the meetings. >> the man he allegedly met with is the same ex-ukrainian prosecutor that joe biden and other world leaders fought to oust because he was not fighting corruption. >> and who was fired in 2016 under pressure by many western leaders including our then-vice president joe biden. he has an axe to grind against the bidens. viktor shokin is the man who claimed to have dirt on hunter and joe biden. he has claimed to have evidence that ukraine meddled in our election. ♪ >> plus new documents released last night by court order reveal the white house helped set up a phone call between giuliani, president trump's personal attorney rudy giuliani, and secretary of state mike pompeo. >> we'll get to that in a moment. but let's start with the alleged meeting between congressman nunes and the ex-ukrainian prosecutor. we have kristin holmes at the white house this morning with more. i mean when you put the reporting of this alleged meeting in the context of all of the american people w

says it is -- >> i'm saying forget about parnas.someone and the president because that would get the stink on biden. if you really cared about corruption, you are don't want some announcement in a place you think is corrupt. my question to ash ashe, which -- asha, i'm not giving them the aide until they give me the announcement on the investigation. can't they argue in good faith and people who want to defend him argue in good faith he didn't mean it that way, that was the other people, he had no corrupt intent and that could save him? >> ralph waldo emerson once said your actions speak so loudly, i can't hear a world you're saying. what we have to look at are the actions that were taking place in the context of this phone call. we know by the time this phone call had taken place, the aide had already been withheld. the people at the omb say it came at the order of the president and the ukrainians understood that this aide was being withheld. they were on the brink of making this announcement under duress presumably. bill taylor's o

parnas is an interesting guy because he's had a lot of financial problems. there's currently a former business partner trying to collect a half million federal judgment from him that was won six years ago he's never been able to collect. he's been evicted from an apartment in 2014, and he's had a lot of these financial partners and at the same time he's traveling with the equivalent of roughly $6,000 in cash and he's got 8 credit or debit cards and apparently doing a ton of gambling, and those questions are integral to the criminal case against him. he's of course pleaded not guilty but the longer this goes on, the more these records keep coming out that keep raising these questions. >> growing calls of the resignation of donald trump's de facto immigration czar ahead. that broke the story on steven millers extensionive -- with white nationalists. health markets compares your current plan with thousands of options nationwide from national insurance companies. don't miss the deadline. there are only days remaining in open enrollment. funny thing about health

he's got a very abled defense lawyer, lev parnas. and this looks to me like a bid for immunity, where they're trying to get the intelligence committee to grant what's called use immunity that makes it virtually impossible for someone to be prosecuted after they receive that immunity. the southern district would not be happy with that, and the congress has been very good at cooperating with prosecutors. so i think he's going to have to deliver more than a nunes misconduct to get that immunity and to get that testimony before the committee. he or the house judiciary committee as well. >> all right. vicky, thank you. we appreciate your very interesting reporting. max and john will be with us on the other side of the break. we'll be right back. what are you doing back there, junior? since we're obviously lost, i'm rescheduling my xfinity customer service appointment. ah, relax. i got this. which gps are you using anyway? a little something called instinct. been using it for years. yeah, that's what i'm afraid of. he knows exactly where w

lev parnas is a person who would potentially be able to provide that testimony. andriy yermak told me on the record he and rudy had a conversation. parnas hasn't yet testified, so there's a lot of information out there that congressional democrats still don't have. >> that is great point. to betsey's point, he literally tells zelensky on the phone call to talk to rudy. he tells him to talk to two peopl people. but there is just no question that he's directing people to get in contact with rudy. >> no, absolutely. and look as betsey was mentioning earlier about how in the open and how public this was, and it wasn't actually a secret. at best it was an open secret that giuliani was acting on president trump's behalf on this stuff is he was telling reporters on the record for months in a very luquacious manner in the months leading up to this scandal, long before the impeachment inquiry was even launched. and when he would talk about it to reporters in various outlets he would repeatedly say how he was keeping president trump abreast on all these progress. so if pre

parnas is going the look for a way to cooperate.ght's last word. thanks for joining us, chuck. really appreciate it. >> my pleasure. >> that is tonight's "the last word." "the 11th hour with brian williams" starts now. >>> tonight the impeachment investigation intensifies. one of those two indicted giuliani associates may be ready to cooperate. >>> and the democrats just released transcripts of their tell a remarkable story of the ambassador to ukraine, realizing rudy was conducting foreign policy, realizing she was being drummed out with no support from her boss, feeling threatened on the job and amazed to hear the president talking about her with a foreign leader on the phone. >>> also tonight, the increasing evidence that the ukraine corruption conspiracy theory dates back to paul manafort, who is now in prison. >>> and a big loss for trump today as an important federal court weighs in on his taxes, and tonight the experts weigh in on where they think this is headed as "the 11th hour" gets under way on a monday night. well, good

lev parnas the known associate like glenn was saying of giuliani, his lawyer is saying that parnas isll about the associations with all of the white house involved in the ukrainian sandal and so i think it's really important for giuliani to be careful. like glenn just said there is an attorney/client relationship there, alex. the person who holds privilege has to be donald trump, but if there's crime fraud exception to be applied here, i couldn't get a better example of how to apply it. giuliani has to tread carefully. frankly giuliani on his destruction of credibility tour this is the next stop apparently. the fact that he is threatening flea has insurance on his client is problem for both of this em. >> glenn, do you think he gets indict snd. >> i think there's a very good chance particularly if lev parnas flips and based on what parnas' lawyer is saying it looks like that that may happen. >> we will see. glenn and katie, thanks so much. >>> the case of a navy seal accused of murder, how it's causing a rift between military brass and president trump. that's next. etween milarity bra

and this was right and the time parnas was giving half a million dollars to rudy giuliani. we don't know the connection but it's not good. second, the height of hypocrisy. cnn has learned some of the loudest members of the impeachment resistance, jim jordan, ranking member of the oversight committee and fellow oversight committee member mark meadows. they're accused essentially of pulling a nunez, as in devin, the former head of the intel committee who had to recuse himself for running to trump with committee material. to be fair, jordan tells cnn he's never divulged information to the white house that should not be divulged. m meadows says jim jordan and i have tried to abide by the rules as much as we can. i invite both on the show on mg o -- many occasions. the white house who is not responded. what could they tell him that is not in public circulation that would be okay? third, a cnn source confirmed lieutenant colonel alexander vindman said he raised concerns about that july 25th call to nss lawyer john eisenberg, okay, part of the white house staff. guess what he was

lev parnas is indicted. he's in trouble fighting a criminal case up in new york and it looks like he is trying to tease out this information that he might have to offer, whether it's to investigators, whether it's to congress. we'll see where it goes. the claims are this. he says that he knows that congressman devin nunes was in vienna last year meeting with this man, victor shulken. the top prosecutor there who was forced out in 2016 under pressure from the west, from joe biden and others for not doing enough to get tough on corruption. that information from le lev parnas, he says he is willing to testify under oath before congressional committees to make that allegation against devin nunes. it is yet to be seen if this is further corroborated. i will tell you devin nunes would not comment to cnn but he did tell breitbart this was false. >> here's a man who's in trouble and now says he's got some key information. it does require bearing out. thank you very much. >> thank you. >>> former national security ad

parnas's attorney says that mr. parnas was told by victor shokin, one prosecutor, that he actually met with devin nunes in vienna late last year. serately, parnas's lawyer has said that nunes was also planning to go to ukraine to meet with different prosecutors, and that's the scrapped trip. but nunes has sort of broadly said these stories are false, but he will not engage directly on the question, did he or did he not meet with mr. shokin. >> so joyce, again, we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. but when you look at this and consume -- look, the lawyer for lev parnas says we've got the goods on this, is there in this some potential problem for devin nunes or is this just really a political story? >> you know, it could be a political and an ethics investigation type of a story. it could be something else. the important thing, as you say here, chris, is not to get too far ahead. because what we don't yet know is the full details of the purpose of these visits. perhaps it was a legitimate purpose. parnas a

cnn's marshall conan has detail from indicted associate le lev parnas. marshal, what do we know about the claims he was making. >> this was a story broken by our colleague vicky ward. we're hearing that the lawyer for this man, lev parnas, an associate, businessman connected to rudy giuliani, they are claiming that they will testify under oath in front of congress if they're invited and they'll say that devin nunes, the ranking member of the house intelligence cumulative committee, traveled to meet with victor shoken who was the former top prosecutor of ukraine who has been dangling alleged dirt about the bidens for about a year now, although many of his allegations have been discred discredit discredited. now nunes is not exactly a stranger to this topic. he has been ramping up the alarm, repeating claims about the bidens over and over at these congressional hearings this past week. let's take a listen to what he's been saying at the house intel committee. >> no conspiracy theory is too outlandish for the democrats. you'd think they would take some inte

the first reporting is that lev parnas, the indicted associate of rudy giuliani, according to lev parnas'sttorney is prepared to tell house investigators that victor showkin met with devin nunes in the late 2018, in december of 2018. now, you saw there devin nunes wouldn't really engage on the substance of the question when asked directly. but i dug up congressional records. they're public congressional travel records that show that devin nunes, in fact, in europe from november 30th to december 8th, 2018. at the time he was chairman of the house intelligence committee. now the congressional records don't show precisely where he was or with whom he met. since that reporting, cnbc is now reporting that earlier this year nunes' staffers attempted to make a trip to ukraine in march but they scuttled the trip. they scrapped it entirely when they realized they would have to inform adam schiff, the chairman of the house intelligence committee. this is according to parnas's attorney. the reason why this matters is because march, the spring is precisely when democrats say, according to all of the e

parnas's attorney. it's very carefully worded.ommittee's request to the extent they are legally proper while scrupulously protecting mr. parnas's privileges, including that of the fifth amendment. what does legally proper mean? is it legally proper to you and me? or legally proper to the president? >> right. exactly. well, that's why i'm saying let's keep our expectations reasonable for now and see what cooperate means because he could take the same position that many of the president's close, you know, advisors and people have taken. saying, oh no, this is not a lawful subpoena as the president says because, you know, the impeachment is all a hoax argument. i -- i'm not sure that that's what's going on here, though, because why would he have changed course? and also, you know, the fact that he mentions obviously parnas does have a real fifth amendment right. that is a real thing. he is an indicted defendant. he's got to be careful. but it does make me think that maybe there is some real overlap, as we've sort of suspected but wil

and this new report is a potential sign that parnas may be turning on giuliani.report notes that parnas' account, while potentially significant, is being contradicted on several fronts. none of the people involved dispute that the meeting actually occurred. but parnas stands alone in saying that the intention was to present an ultimatum to the ukrainian leadership, and that in itself would be significant. giuliani also denied parnas' contention that he delivered the warning at his discretion. nbc has not independently confirmed the report. we have reached out to the attorney for lev parnas but have not yet heard back from him. "new york times" investigative reporter michael rothfeld. we appreciate your time. first of all, walk us through, michael, if you can, the significance of this development. >> well, the significance is that this story, which, as you noted, is disputed, is that this would be the earliest instance in which a quid pro quo was mentioned involving american aid and the desire for president trump and rudy giuliani his personal lawyer to have an in

now that the lawyers for parnas are on the record saying what they believe to be true regarding parnas, and his visibility into rudy giuliani and devin nunes' connections to the question regarding the bidens. look, tbd what giuliani says. any number of reporters would be extremely interested in the proof he appears to be alouding there, but yet to the produce. >> interesting to see what parnas has to say, if he gets the opportunity to talk. betsy woodruff swine, thank you. appreciate it. >>> turning to 2020 politics and joe biden on his 15th trip to iowa today. secured a highly coveted endo e endorsement. the former governor iowa tom vilsack and his wife supporting joe biden as the former vice president looks to shore up support in the first caucus state. bring in nbc news road warrior, in des moines right now. you're following the biden campaign today. what are some of the caucusgoers, the town halls he's visiting, keenly interested in? >> reporter: it's interesting. it's very different from something that we're talking about very often on television, and across the news cycle which i

we've seen from lev parnas be outspoken, that he wants to tell his story.e's made overtures to the impeachment investigators saying he'd be willing to provide information. there are reports they've turned over documents, audio recordings, other details. so lev parnas' team definitely is making this overture that he wants to tell his story. we don't know how much he has. we don't know what is corroborated. so we don't know how good of a witness he is. there's an indication from him he wants to. igor fruman's team has been quiet. they could also be doing things behind the scenes but not telegraphing it. it's hard to know at this point where this is going to shake out. >> another story, i understand cnn has learned that david pecker, the head of the national enquirer, close friend of the prrkts spoke with the distriman district attorney's office. >> they're investigating the hush money payments made to silence the two women who alleged affairs with the president. there was the federal investigation. now the manhattan da's office is looking to see if any state