Some huge takeaways in this piece on Firtash's links to Giuliani et al:
1. Parnas's lawyer says Parnas met with Firtash at Giuliani's direction, and encouraged Firtash to help with hunting for dirt on Biden. nytimes.com/2019/11/25/us/…
1. Parnas's lawyer says Parnas met with Firtash at Giuliani's direction, and encouraged Firtash to help with hunting for dirt on Biden. nytimes.com/2019/11/25/us/…
2. Firtash claims he had no "dirt" on the Bidens (which seems plausible!), but claims he had no "will and desire" to be "sucked into this internal U.S. fight" (which doesn't seem plausible at all!).
3. Firtash, who's publicly slammed Biden in the past, further claims he hadn't financed any search for dirt on the Bidens, but admits that he's paid Toensing, diGenova, and Parnas some $1.2 million thus far... while all three have led the efforts to smear Biden on Ukraine.
4. Parnas's lawyer claims it was Giuliani, via Parnas, who convinced Firtash to drop Lanny Davis et al., and hire Toensing/diGenova as his legal reps. Parnas and Firtash met via an unnamed "mutual acquaintance."
5. The piece seems to confirm plenty of suspicions already at play: that Toensing/diGenova worked with Firtash solely because he could help the anti-Biden campaign; that Giuliani used Parnas as a liaison to make it happen; that Firtash's financial investment is already steep.
Basically: Firtash doth protest too much.
He's likely now realized that, thanks to his very public link to the Giuliani gang, how much he's undercut his efforts to thwart extradition. He's now spinning himself as some innocent naif, "sucked into" this fight against his will.
He's likely now realized that, thanks to his very public link to the Giuliani gang, how much he's undercut his efforts to thwart extradition. He's now spinning himself as some innocent naif, "sucked into" this fight against his will.
There's zero reason to think that Firtash wasn't fully on board with Giuliani's efforts to smear and target Biden.
The guy already had a very public loathing for Biden, after all—and per DOJ, was an "upper-echelon [associate] of Russian organized crime."
The guy already had a very public loathing for Biden, after all—and per DOJ, was an "upper-echelon [associate] of Russian organized crime."
Also, worth noting on Kolomoisky that the lawsuit he's fighting in the U.S. alleges that he's become the largest commercial real estate holder in all of Cleveland—showing just how much further the U.S. has to go on the anti-kleptocracy front: thinkprogress.org/how-did-this-u…
How many other crooked post-Soviet oligarchs, mafiosi, and former politicians are currently reaching out to Giuliani's team with offers of dirt on Biden? How many have already fabricated evidence in their efforts? How many have been successful?
Giuliani's apparently had discussions about being the lawyer for both Firtash *and* PrivatBank: bloomberg.com/news/articles/… ht @ChristopherJM
“Law suit?”
