Ex-Nevada AG admits badgering ‘clownish’ Lev Parnas for donations
Nevada’s Trump-boosting former attorney general admitted in court Friday that he hounded Lev Parnas for campaign contributions in 2018 despite considering the onetime Rudy Giuliani associate a “clownish” political nobody.
Adam Laxalt, who stepped down as AG of the Silver State in 2019, detailed his repeated outreach to Parnas on the stand at Parnas’s Manhattan Federal Court trial for funneling tens of thousands of dollars in Russian cash to U.S. politicians.
“(I was) really kind of bombarding him, ‘Are you going to come through? Are you going to support my campaign or not?’” Laxalt testified.
At the time, Laxalt was running for governor of Nevada. Parnas had promised to bundle roughly $200,000 for his campaign — a hefty pledge that came during their first meeting at an event at former President Donald Trump’s Washington, D.C. hotel in mid-2018.
But Parnas kept dodging his pleas for campaign cash, Laxalt said, making him wary of the Soviet-born businessman.
Under cross-examination from Parnas lawyer Joseph Bondy, Laxalt confirmed he told the FBI that he thought of Parnas as a “clownish guy in a gold chain” and “a guy from Brooklyn with a home in Florida” who was likely only into GOP politics “for the pictures.”
Considering his impression of Parnas, Bondy asked why Laxalt kept “bludgeoning him for money on a daily basis.”
“I chased everyone,” Laxalt demurred.
Laxalt lost the governor’s race.
Laxalt’s appearance at Parnas’ trial comes as he’s running in the 2022 midterms to unseat U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto, a vulnerable Democrat representing Nevada.
A Trump ally who chaired the ex-president’s 2020 campaign in Nevada, Laxalt has sought to distance himself from Parnas and his co-defendant Igor Fruman since they were arrested by the FBI in late 2019 on campaign finance charges.
Ultimately, Parnas and his co-defendant, Igor Fruman, only secured a $10,000 donation for Laxalt, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors say the donation was secretly bankrolled by Russian tycoon Andrey Muraviev as part of a $1 million campaign finance scheme to funnel cash to American politicians who Parnas and Fruman thought would make it easier for them to obtain licenses to sell recreational marijuana in at least five states.
Laxalt is not accused of any wrongdoing.
Fruman has already pleaded guilty to charges related to the weed plot. Parnas maintains his innocence.
Andrey Kukushkin, an intermediary for Muraviev, is on trial alongside Parnas and has pleaded not guilty to his alleged role in the pot plot.
Bondy argued it wouldn’t have made any sense for Parnas and Fruman to target Laxalt for the weed scheme since the ex-AG is no fan of ganja.
Laxalt agreed. “I’d be the wrong candidate to be supporting for that,” he said.
Parnas and Fruman are best known for helping Giuliani and Trump hunt for Ukrainian political dirt on then-presidential candidate Joe Biden in 2019, an effort that prompted Trump’s first impeachment.
In addition to the weed scheme, Parnas is facing a set of charges related to an allegedly illegal $325,000 donation he issued to a pro-Trump super PAC around the same time of his Ukraine dealings.
Deanne Van Rensburg, Parnas’ former personal assistance, testified at his trial Friday that she helped him issue the super PAC donation and that he had told her there was nothing illegal about it.
“I made a bad assumption,” she said.
