Vicky Ward Profile picture
Nov 16, 2019 12 tweets 4 min read Read on X
EXCLUSIVE: At last year's WH Hanukkah party, Lev Parnas & Igor Fruman had a private meeting w Trump & Giuliani during which Trump tasked the two men with “a secret mission” to pressure the Ukrainian gov't to investigate Joe & Hunter Biden, sources say. cnn.com/2019/11/15/pol…
The party—during which Parnas and Fruman slipped out of a reception room packed with hundreds of Trump donors to have a private meeting with the President and Giuliani—was the day after Giuliani brought Parnas as his guest to the funeral of former president George H.W. Bush.
In the days following the meeting, Parnas insinuated to two people that he clearly believed he’d been given a special assignment by the President—like some sort of “James Bond mission,” according to one of the people.
This new reporting puts the president firmly in the Lev Parnas/Igor Fruman camp much earlier than the July 25th phone call. What it shows is that there was an idea of the quid pro quo—“what are we going to do about Ukraine?”—all the way back in December.
That December meeting at the White House is not even the first report of Parnas and the President discussing Ukraine.
WaPo's @PostRoz @mattzap @thamburger @jdawsey1 reported that at an April ’18 fundraiser, Parnas told Trump that Yovanovitch was unfriendly to him and his interests. Trump allegedly suggested that Yovanovitch should be fired. A year later, she was recalled. washingtonpost.com/politics/at-do…
According to @rebeccaballhaus @AlanCullison @brett_forrest, Parnas & Fruman met with Petro Poroshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko in Feb. They extended Poroshenko an invitation for a State dinner, if he would commit to publicly opening investigations into Ukraine.
wsj.com/articles/giuli…
I also report on another separate encounter—not previously disclosed—between Parnas and Trump at an August 2018 at a fundraiser for then- Republican congresswoman Claudia Tenney in upstate New York.
"I don't know them," Trump has said of Parnas and Fruman. "I don't know about them. I don't know what they do but I don't know—maybe they were clients of Rudy. You'd have to ask Rudy, I just don't know."
The White House did not respond to repeated requests for comment to a series of questions regarding the meeting and Trump’s relationship with Parnas and Fruman.
Guiliani’s lawyer rejects Parnas’s claims of being put on a “James Bond” style mission, saying that Parnas is “no Sean Connery” and that he suffers from “delusions of grandeur.”
Lev Parnas used to “worship” Trump, whom he sometimes called "the big guy" in conversation. Now he feels differently. Since his arrest, sources say he’s signaled that he’s willing to cooperate with the Congressional impeachment inquiry. There are shades here of Michael Cohen...

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More from @VickyPJWard

Jun 12, 2023
There’s been plenty of armchair diagnosis about narcissistic personality disorders as well as speculation about leverage Trump could, possibly, have wanted to exercise with foreign states with whom he wants to do business deals (ie Saudi Arabia).

But I think there's more to it. Image
Click here to read:
shorturl.at/irF36
In his mind, the best defense is the best offense. And, given his background in the unregulated and ruthless world of NY real estate, it might appear that he assumes (not necessarily wrongly) that everyone else is playing dirty, so he needs to play dirtier to gain the advantage.
Read 9 tweets
Apr 4, 2023
1. No one knows how to manipulate an audience better than Trump.

Yet, today we are handing him the stage, the microphone, the props – and a captive audience, regardless.

THREAD

vickyward.substack.com/p/trump-the-ri…
2. The last time I recall so much live coverage of someone on the move was when the Queen’s coffin was being transported from Westminster Abbey to her final burial at St George’s Chapel in Windsor. And the time before that was the police chase of OJ Simpson. Image
3. TV shots of the mansion, to which he will jet home tonight, only serve as a reminder that even if a jury finds him guilty of the charges, even if he were sentenced to prison, upon his return his lifestyle will remain largely unaffected.
Read 6 tweets
Mar 31, 2023
1. Who does Donald Trump's indictment help? @jaredkushner

The noise around Trump, again, drowns out a new report of his son-in-law's Middle East dealings

THREAD
2. Yes, Trump became the first American president to be indicted on criminal charges.

But, in the midst of the brouhaha as that story broke, The New York Times published an important news story about Jared Kushner’s investments in the Middle East.

nytimes.com/2023/03/30/us/…
3. Kushner, remember, is being investigated by Congress for the appearance of quid-pro-quo policy-making in the region while he was in the White House.

(He has denied doing anything improper).

vickyward.substack.com/p/all-roads-le…
Read 8 tweets
Mar 27, 2023
Prince Harry makes an unexpected appearance in London for Daily Mail lawsuit.

Elton John, Liz Hurley, and Sadie Frost join the Duke of Sussex in suing the Daily Mail's publisher over unlawful breaches of privacy.

bbc.com/news/entertain…
I've written about my experience working in both British and American media.

It is true that there is an underlying meanness of spirit in the English newsrooms that isn’t present in those in the U.S.

vickyward.substack.com/p/are-the-brit…
The British press play fast and loose with the truth, they are transactional and mean-spirited, and they’ve been known to break the law to get a story. All of which is deplorable.

The big conundrum: Their readers kind of know all this.
Read 4 tweets
Mar 23, 2023
1.I spent many hours with @MichaelCohen212 in 2017 and 2018, and I revisited my notes where he told me about that "I'd take a bullet" for Trump quote.

THREAD:

vickyward.substack.com/p/inside-micha…
2. I watched Michael Cohen's U-turn in real time, as he slowly began to realize that his former boss, “the big guy” was not going to do anything to protect Michael as the Feds closed in.
3. Michael Cohen also helped Trump get elected against the wishes of the Trump kids. They weren't exactly thanked.
Read 6 tweets
Mar 22, 2023
1. Ahead of TikTok’s CEO testifying to Congress Thursday around the debate that TikTok’s ownership by the Chinese Government is a security risk, I asked my 20-year-old son who has 28.9k followers for his views on whether TikTok should be banned.

vickyward.substack.com/p/should-tikto…
2. My son’s response: “Mom, 1. Unless you have a really interesting job - and I mean REALLY interesting, like Director of the CIA - your data is more boring, than useful. 2. Mark Zuckerberg already has all of the data on your phone”
3. Commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo has said that banning it would likely mean losing the support of voters aged 35 and under.
Read 4 tweets

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