The stories you want. The opinions that matter.
No, thanks
Tag: ukraine
Lev Parnas

Impeachment Hearing: Parnas Says Republicans Are 'Doing The Bidding' Of Putin

The House Republicans’ impeachment investigation into President Joe Biden was dealt another significant blow when former Rudy Giuliani aide Lev Parnas, known as his Ukraine “fixer,” during a televised hearing declared two current Republican lawmakers were “doing the bidding” of Russia.

Parnas testified that Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), who was present at the hearing as his name was mentioned, and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), “were doing the bidding for the Russians.”

The ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), asked Parnas, “At what point did Mr. Giuliani begin working directly with Russian agents and Russian assets? Individuals who would later become sanctioned by Donald Trump’s own Treasury Department for spreading propaganda and disinformation against Joe Biden.”

Parnas said, “probably around May, June of 2019.”

Parnas also said “absolutely,” when asked if he and Giuliani were “aware that these people were basically just doing the bidding of Vladimir Putin?”

“So he had no hesitation about spreading lies that were concocted by Russian agents?” Raskin asked.

“As long as it fit the narrative. Absolutely not,” Parnas answered.

“How were you and Giuliani able to take these false allegations peddled by corrupt officials and Russian agents and promote and amplify them here in the United States in our political system? Weren’t media groups skeptical of your claims?” Raskin continued.

That’s when Parnas dropped the bombshell.

“Most media groups I’d probably say all, except for Fox and a few other right-wing media groups, didn’t want to take any of the information and that aggravated Rudy Giuliani and John Solomon, him and other players. And the main group that was being pushed through was Fox, Sean Hannity and some other media personalities over there.”

“But then there was also other people that were doing the bidding for the Russian people, in Congress,” Parnas continued, “like Senator Ron Johnson, like Congressman Pete Sessions, that sits here right now there, was with me from the very beginning of this journey into finding, digging dirt on Joe Biden.”

(In 2019 The New Yorker's award-winning investigative journalist Jane Mayer reported, “no journalist played a bigger part in fuelling the Biden corruption narrative than John Solomon, who until last week was an opinion columnist and executive vice-president of The Hill, in Washington.”)

During his opening statement, Parnas also indicted Republicans.

“Everything was for the ultimate benefit of Donald Trump and thereby Vladimir Putin. Because the team’s investigations were centered around Biden and Ukraine, I was designated the point person in every matter they pursued,” Parnas said. “That is how that is how I know with certainty that these Biden stories are untrue then and are untrue now. Congressman Pete Sessions, then Congressman Devin Nunes, Senator Ron Johnson, and many others understood they’re pushing a false narrative.”

“The same goes for John Solomon, Sean Hannity, and media personnel, particularly at Fox News, who used this narrative to manipulate the public ahead of the 2020 elections. Sadly, they’re still doing this today as we approach the 2024 elections. We cannot separate this conspiracy from the Russian-Ukraine war because Trump has no intention to keep aiding Ukraine.”

“Without the support of the United States and NATO, millions in Ukraine will suffer and die. If we allow Russia to defeat Ukraine eventually that suffering will reach American shores. Today, I admit my own wrongdoings. I have been convicted of federal election campaign and fraud crimes and served my sentence. I do not hide that from reality. It is part of my truth. Despite rigorous attempts by those in power to silence me. I will be silenced no longer.”

The Lincoln Project’s co-founder, Mike Madrid, responded to Parnas’ opening statement: “Pete Sessions. Devin Nunes. Ron Johnson. Sean Hannity. Traitors.”

Calling Republicans “a national security risk,” political strategist Rachel Bitecofer wrote: “House Republicans knew their source was a Russian asset, the same House Republicans did the same thing during the Ukraine blackmail impeachment where intel told them their info was Russian disinformation but they used it anyway.”

Watch the videos at this link.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Sean Hannity

Fox Promoted Informant's Dubious Tale To Bolster Right-Wing Lies About Ukraine

Fox News credulously promoted an extraordinary story about President Joe Biden taking a $5 million bribe, now described by federal prosecutors as false, because it appeared to confirm a conspiracy theory the network had pursued for years — one that its own research “Brain Room” had warned was “disinformation” back in 2019.

A federal grand jury last week charged Alexander Smirnov, an FBI confidential informant, with lying to the bureau about Biden and his son, Hunter, in an interview memorialized in a 2020 FD-1023 form. Special counsel David Weiss’ indictment alleges that Smirnov fabricated numerous claims purportedly sourced to an official with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings. Smirnov had claimed the official told him — in communications Weiss says never took place — that Burisma hired Hunter Biden to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems,” and that Joe Biden accepted $5 million in bribes from the company. On Tuesday, Weiss filed a detention memo stating that Smirnov had claimed significant ties with Russian intelligence.

Fox had trumpeted the allegations in the FD-1023 memo, with its hosts and contributors citing the purported Biden bribe as evidence of massive corruption and criminality. Prime-time star Sean Hannity led the charge, touting those dubious and since-refuted claims in at least 85 segments in 2023. The network is now flailing in response to Smirnov’s indictment for making it all up, while journalists at other outlets highlight how Fox is implicated in the debacle.

Fox’s propagandists were willing to run with Smirnov’s story without question — even though all they really knew was that an FBI informant had offered it — because it seemed to support a bogus tale they’ve been telling for years: that Biden, as vice president, corruptly forced the Ukrainian government to fire its top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, to benefit Hunter’s business interests. In their telling, Biden sought Shokin’s removal in order to halt an investigation Shokin was purportedly conducting into Burisma.

Rudy Giuliani, then Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, launched that lie back in 2018, working with GOP lawyers Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing, Soviet-born con men Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, and pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash. They laundered dubious information through the conservative writer John Solomon and Hannity, whose Fox program became the nexus of the monthslong disinformation campaign. The story eventually attracted the interest of Trump himself, who responded by corruptly seeking to condition military aid to Ukraine on Ukraine’s announcement of an investigation of the Bidens, eventually leading to his first impeachment. Last July’s release of the FD-1023, with its claims that Burisma officials told Smirnov they expected Hunter to “take care” of Shokin’s probe of the company “through his dad” and that father and son had both received large bribes, breathed new life into the story for Fox.

Prosecutors now say that that meeting never happened. But the underlying story Fox was so eager to confirm was wildly wrong all along, according to the testimony of U.S. officials appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents, government documents, and reams of contemporaneous and more recent reporting. In reality, U.S. policy called for firing Shokin, who was viewed as unwilling to prosecute corruption by U.S. diplomats, foreign governments, international bodies, and Ukrainian anti-corruption groups, and his office had not been actively investigating Burisma at the time then-Vice President Biden sought his removal.

Fox’s research department, known internally as the “Brain Room,” warned that this was the case. A leaked memo, most recently updated in December 2019, accused Giuliani, Toensing, diGenova, and Solomon — at the time, all frequent guests on Fox’s most popular programs — of “spreading disinformation” about Biden and Ukraine, and singled out Hannity’s program for particular criticism.

A legitimate news operation would question how it came to be promoting such disinformation and try to ensure it didn’t happen again — but Fox is a Republican propaganda operation. Since that memo was released, the “Brain Room” has been hit with layoffs, while the network has hired former Trump officials and GOP operatives. And Hannity still enjoys his prime-time platform.

So when Republican politicians started promoting the incendiary nature of the FD-1023, Hannity and his allies went to work making it a focus of Fox’s coverage. GOP legislators touted its importance, with Hannity favorite Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) telling him it was the “heart” of the party’s impeachment case. Now they’re scrambling to explain how that case hasn’t been devastated by Smirnov’s indictment.

Hannity and company were working backward from a fatally flawed conclusion, so of course all the evidence they can amass turns out to originate with liars and grifters.

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

Mike Johnson

Trump Is Bossing House Speaker On Border And Ukraine Legislation

House Speaker Mike Johnson has been getting his marching orders directly from Donald Trump (and by extension Vladimir Putin) when it comes to funding for Ukraine and the immigration policy bill it’s tied up with. Johnson told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham Wednesday that he and Trump “have been talking about this pretty frequently. I talked to him the night before last about the same subject.”

Trump’s position is no secret. “I do not think we should do a Border Deal, at all, unless we get EVERYTHING needed to shut down the INVASION of Millions & Millions of people, many from parts unknown, into our once great, but soon to be great again, Country!” he yelled on Truth Social Wednesday.

Then he exerted some extra pressure: “Also, I have no doubt that our wonderful Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, will only make a deal that is PERFECT ON THE BORDER,” Trump wrote. “Remember, without Strong Borders and Honest Elections, we don’t have a Country!!!”

The timing of Trump’s outbursts wasn’t random. Johnson, along with Senate leaders Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell, met with President Joe Biden Wednesday. The three likely ganged up on Johnson to push the agreement, though no one is saying that. Biden, Schumer, and McConnell are all deeply committed to Ukraine assistance, and the only path for it to happen now is through an immigration agreement.

What Senate Republicans are saying is that Johnson and House Republicans need to step up on this, because they are unlikely to get a better deal. “To my Republican friends: To get this kind of border security without granting a pathway to citizenship is really unheard of. So if you think you’re going to get a better deal next time, in ’25, if President Trump’s president, Democrats will be expecting a pathway to citizenship for that,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told reporters. “So to my Republican colleagues, this is a historic moment to reform the border.”

Because it is such a good deal for Republican senators, plenty of Democrats in the House will not feel compelled to support it. Johnson would need a united Republican conference, but he’s unlikely to get it. The House Freedom Caucus has made their position clear: It’s their draconian anti-immigrant bill or nothing, and so far Johnson has been catering to them.

That might be because his speakership could be on the line. As Trump exerts more and more pressure, so do the MAGA members of Congress. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has already threatened to bring a motion to oust Johnson if he brings this Senate bill to the floor. “It’s really an amnesty deal where Democrats are going to bring in millions and millions of illegals and turn them into Democrat voters,” she told Fox.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Villages Evacuate After Ukraine Dam 'Partially Destroyed' By Russia

Villages Evacuate After Ukraine Dam 'Partially Destroyed' By Russia

Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) - A Russian-held dam in southern Ukraine was damaged on Tuesday, with Kyiv and Moscow accusing each other of blowing it up while locals were forced to flee rising waters.

The dam was partially destroyed by "multiple strikes", Moscow-installed authorities claimed just as expectations were rising over the start of Ukraine's long-awaited offensive.

Ukraine, however, accused Russia of blowing up the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant.

"The terrorists' goal is obvious -- to create obstacles for the offensive actions of the armed forces," Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky convened a meeting of his National Security Council over the Russian "war crime", said his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak.

Several villages have been "completely or partially flooded" following damage to the dam and evacuations from the area have begun, a Ukrainian official said.

"About 16,000 people are in the critical zone on the right bank of the Kherson region," Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson miliary administration, said on social media, adding that there was flooding in eight areas along the Dnipro River.

'Defensive Operations'

The Kakhovka dam, seized at the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, notably supplies water to the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.

Built on the Dnipro River in 1956, during the Soviet era, the structure is partly made of concrete and partly of earth. It is one of the largest pieces of infrastructure of its kind in Ukraine.

News of the damage came after Zelensky praised his troops for advances claimed near the devastated city of Bakhmut, while Russia said it had repelled a large-scale attack.

"Well done, warriors! We see how hysterically Russia reacts to any step we take there, all positions we take. The enemy knows that Ukraine will win," Zelensky said in a video message published on social media.

Earlier, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Malyar had noted "some success" on the battlefield.

"The Bakhmut sector remains the epicenter of the hostilities. We are advancing there on a rather wide front," she said.

"The defensive operation includes counteroffensive actions. Therefore, in some sectors, we are conducting offensive actions," Malyar added.

In May, Russia said it seized the now-destroyed eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the scene of the longest and one of the bloodiest battles of the war.

Ukraine says it has been preparing a major offensive to recapture territory lost to Russia, but that there would be no announcement about when it would start.

On Sunday, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said words "can only do harm" and posted a cryptic tweet, quoting lyrics from the Depeche Mode song Enjoy the Silence.

US President Joe Biden wished Ukraine well on Monday in its expected counteroffensive.

Asked by AFP if he thought the expected Ukrainian pushback would work, the president answered by silently raising his hand and crossing his middle and index fingers.

The war has escalated in recent weeks, with increased attacks on both sides of the border with Russia.

Military experts expect Ukrainian forces to test Russian defences for weaknesses before starting a full-blown offensive.

'Large-scale Offensive'

Earlier on Monday, Russia's defense ministry said "the enemy launched a large-scale offensive in five sectors of the front" on Sunday in the south of the Donetsk region.

Moscow said it had thwarted the offensive, killing a total of "1,500 servicemen" and destroying more than 100 armoured vehicles.

But the claims were dismissed on Tuesday by the boss of Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, as "wild fantasies".

Prigozhin has been embroiled in a public spat with Russia's regular army and has accused Moscow's military leadership of not supplying enough ammunition, among other criticisms.

Large parts of Donetsk have been held by pro-Moscow separatists since 2014.

It is one of four eastern Ukrainian territories that Russia formally annexed in September last year, along with Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, despite never fully controlling them.

The ministry posted what it said was a video of the battle, showing Ukrainian armoured vehicles coming under heavy fire.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's top commander in Ukraine, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, "was at one of the advanced command posts", the ministry said.

The ministry later said it defeated "new attempts to pierce Russian defences" in southern Donetsk.

The Russian and Ukrainian claims could not be independently verified.