New audio obtained by The Daily Beast appears to show former
Rudy Giuliani associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman attending an April 2018 fundraising dinner with President
Donald Trump along with former
Republican Rep. Pete Sessions. The recording marks the second substantial release of audio showing Parnas interacting with the president at a fundraising event.Federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged Parnas in October 2019, alongside his business partners Igor Fruman, David Correia, and Andrey Kukushkin, with conspiring to make illegal campaign contributions on behalf of a foreign donor. Parnas and his associates have all pleaded not guilty. Trump has downplayed his association with Parnas and told reporters, “I don’t know who this man is.” Parnas hired President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, in 2018 seeking help with a business venture, Fraud Guarantee. Giuliani allegedly later used Parnas as a fixer in
Ukraine as the former
New York City mayor attempted to dig up compromising information on former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter.