On Monday, MSNBC Films announced that host Rachel Maddow will debut "From Russia With Lev," a documentary she executive produced highlighting Lev Parnas, a former associate of Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani. In 2020, Parnas was indicted on campaign finance charges and subsequently turned over documents contradicting claims made by Trump and his legal team to investigators in the House of Representatives.
The film will makes its premiere on Sept. 7 at MSNBC Live: Democracy 2024 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. "From Russia With Lev" traces the role of Ukrainian-born Parnas' dealings with the former president, pulling back the curtain on the scheme that led to Trump's impeachment. Using more than 30 hours of interview footage and a trove of photos, documents and recordings, the film traces how Parnas "reveals the ham-handed workings of the furtive campaign to dredge up false but damaging allegations against then-candidate Joe Biden," presenting "a view of former President Trump that is unfiltered and unavailable anywhere else," per a press release.
"Lev Parnas' story is like Tom Clancy if Jack Ryan was played by Jackie Mason," says director Billy Corben. "This film is a continuation of rakontur's signature subgenre of 'Florida Men Behaving Badly with World-Changing Geopolitical Stakes.'"
"President Trump knew exactly what was going on," Parnas, during the televised interview, alleged at the time. "He was aware of all of my movements. . . . He lied. He knew exactly who we were. He knew exactly who I was especially because I interacted with him at a lot of events . . . I was with Rudy when he would speak to the president — plenty of times."
"He lied," Parnas says of President Trump's denial that he knows him. "He knew exactly who we were. He knew exactly who I was especially because I interacted with him at a lot of events... I was with Rudy when he would speak to the president — plenty of times." pic.twitter.com/Y3D51xtSTi
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 16, 2020
“There should be more documentaries from an insider’s perspective about the Trump presidency," Maddow, whose Surprise Inside company produced the film, said. "There should be a Mike Pence documentary. There should be a John Kelly documentary, or a Rex Tillerson documentary. But it takes someone like Lev Parnas to be brave enough to speak up first. Lev’s story is un-put-down-able.”
Co-executive producers for the documentary include Rashida Jones, Rebecca Kutler and Amanda Spain. Alfred Spellman acts as producer. The film will be released in theaters and will be broadcast on MSNBC later in September.
