Lev Parnas: Trump Team Tried to Distance ‘Soros People’ From Ukrainian President

Lev Parnas, who operated in Ukraine on behalf of U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph Giuliani, said this weekend that removing “Soros people” from the orbit of the Ukrainian president was among the missions his team had been pursuing.

A belief that Soros stood behind Trump’s troubles since the 2016 election was common in what Parnas described as the “cult” of Trump’s inner circle.

“Soros became Enemy Number One, and it was understood that Soros infiltrated the U.S. government and State Department over a certain period of time,” Parnas told Daily Beast reporter Betsy Swan, echoing widespread Soros conspiracy theories popular in right-wing circles in the United States and across Europe.

The Israeli right, notably Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his eldest son, Yair, have similarly promoted anti-Soros theories related to the Holocaust survivor’s agenda in the Middle East. Last fall, Yair Netanyahu told a Hungarian audience that Soros’ organizations “are working day and night with an unlimited budget to rob the country of its Jewish identity.”

Parnas has been charged alongside another Florida businessman, Belarus-born Igor Fruman, with illegally funneling money to a pro-Trump election committee and other politicians. Fruman and Parnas, both of whom are Jewish, have pleaded not guilty.

While Fruman has remained silent, Parnas embarked on a media blitz over the past week, following his transfer of a trove of documents to Congress regarding his work in Ukraine on Giuliani’s behalf.

Parnas’ alleged efforts to help Giuliani strong-arm Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy into announcing an investigation into Hunter Biden lie at the heart of the ongoing impeachment trial against Trump.