"Flipper" Lev Parnas testifying might not be a good thing for us.

[Imperialism Inc.]

It was recently reported that Giuliani's associate, Lev Parnas, was in discussions to testify in the House inquiry. It was said he is upset that Donald Trump claimed not to know him. While that might prove embarrassing for Trump, lying about who you know isn't an impeachable offense. Everything Parnas did was almost certainly done at the behest of Giuliani and not Trump, and he obviously won't have any knowledge or involvement in holding up aid to Ukraine. There seems to be little upside.

On the down side, Parnas was deeply involved with promoting the conspiracy theories that Trump wanted to push, and will give the GOP a way to get those issues into the record, giving them a basis to aim the inquiry at Joe and Hunter Biden.

How a Veteran Reporter Worked with Giuliani’s Associates to Launch the Ukraine Conspiracy
Lev Parnas, recently indicted for foreign influence in U.S. elections, collaborated closely with The Hill’s John Solomon to fuel spurious allegations involving the Bidens and Ukraine.
https://www.propublica.org/article/how-a-veteran-reporter-worked-with-giuliani-associates-to-launch-the-ukraine-conspiracy

Last March, a veteran Washington reporter taped an interview with a Ukrainian prosecutor that sparked a disinformation campaign alleging Joe Biden pressured Ukrainians into removing a prosecutor investigating a company because of its ties to the former vice president’s son. The interview and subsequent columns, conducted and written by a writer for The Hill newspaper, John Solomon, were the starting gun that eventually set off the impeachment inquiry into the president.

Watching from the control booth of The Hill’s TV studio was Lev Parnas, who helped arrange the interview.

Parnas and his partner Igor Fruman were working with the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to promote a story that it was Democrats and not Republicans who colluded with a foreign power in the 2016 election. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan indicted the duo this month on allegations that they illegally funneled foreign money into U.S. political campaigns.

If you're not familiar with that theory about Democrats interfering in the 2016 election , it almost surely refers to the claim that one-time DNC contractor Alexandra Chalupa was responsible for the release of the ledger that incriminated Paul Manafort. Chalupa and the DNC both deny she was working for them at the time. At one point a Ukrainian court ruled that the release of the ledger constituted interference in the US election but that was overturned on appeal.

At any rate, the point isn't the truth of those claims but that having Parnas testify will certainly allow the GOP to get them into the record.

[dewsgirl]

1. He is deep in the Russian mafia, there is no way he is

flipping because he feelings are hurt. I personally don't see him being able to flip even if he wanted to.

[emulatorloo]

3. OTOH Putin may be done w Trump.

[dewsgirl]

5. Could be, we can hope.

[Mike 03]

2. Yeah, I'm worried about a Manafort redux, a phony cooperation

that is worse than no cooperation at all.

They ought to consider calling HR McMaster to testify, because according to Bob Woodward he and other national security officials looked into the Ukraine conspiracy claims in 2017 and declared them totally discredited, meaning Trump knew that far back as well they were bogus.

[Caliman73]

4. I wouldn't be too worried.

The Democrats have some pretty decent attorneys both on staff and in their ranks. If what he has to offer isn't worth it, they will likely pass on the testimony.