Sen. John Cornyn slammed Lev Parnas as a “grifter,” saying he is not relevant to the case the Senate will be hearing during President Trump’s impeachment trial.
“Well, there is no question that there have been a series of grifters and other hangers-on that have associated themselves with the president’s campaign or claim to have special relationships with the president,” the Texas Republican said Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation. “But this is not the issue that the Senate is going to be deciding.”
Cornyn, 67, said that people should “be careful before crediting the veracity of somebody who is under indictment” and attempting to “get leniency from the prosecutor.”
Parnas, an associate of the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, claimed he helped in an attempt to convince Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden. While he said he didn’t speak with Trump about the plan directly, he claimed the president knew about it.
“President Trump knew exactly what was going on. He was aware of all my movements. I wouldn’t do anything without the consent of Rudy Giuliani or the president,” he said in an interview Wednesday.
The 47-year-old was charged and indicted over an alleged scheme to funnel foreign money to Republican politicians. He has pleaded not guilty.
The president has repeatedly said he does not know Parnas but has been photographed with him. On Sunday, Donald Trump Jr. admitted that he and his father have met Parnas at fundraising events but added that they “couldn’t pick this guy out of a lineup.”
