House Democrats on the Oversight Committee have selected Lev Parnas, an indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani, to be their witness at the panel’s hearing on Wednesday. Parnas, a Ukrainian-American, worked with Giuliani in an attempt to uncover damaging information about Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in Ukraine. Parnas was sentenced to 20 months in prison for convictions on campaign finance, wire fraud, and false statements.
Republicans had initially embraced the information Parnas provided but he has since discredited it as nonsense. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland stated that Parnas can debunk the claims at the heart of the impeachment probe and shed light on the GOP's current situation.
Parnas will testify alongside Tony Bobulinski, a former Biden family business associate, and Jason Galanis, who is currently in federal prison for fraudulent schemes. Hunter Biden declined the invitation to appear at the hearing. The hearing is part of the ongoing GOP-led impeachment inquiry into Biden.
Trump had used conspiracy theories from Giuliani and Parnas to falsely accuse Joe Biden of corruptly pressuring Ukraine to protect his son's interests. Oversight Committee Democrats have used Parnas' previous testimony to contradict allegations made by others.
Last year, Parnas sent a letter to House Oversight Chair James Comer discrediting the theories pushed by Republicans and calling for an end to the investigation into the Biden family. Democrats had considered Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen as a witness but ultimately chose Parnas to shed light on Trump's use of questionable sources to fabricate information about Biden.
