Did Igor Fruman just flip on Donald Trump?

| 8:30 pm EST January 24, 2020
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ABC News just dropped a bombshell in the form of a newly reported recording of Donald Trump telling Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman in April 2018 to “take [U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch] out.” This is sending shockwaves, because it proves Trump’s criminal plot in Ukraine has been going on for a lot longer than anyone knew, and because it sounds like Trump was instructing his goons to have Yovanovitch killed. But there’s also another storyline here, which if it holds up, could prove to be even more troubling for Trump.

Partway through the ABC News story, we find this nugget: “The recording was made by Fruman.” At the least this means that Igor Fruman was trying to cover his bases all along, by capturing incriminating evidence against Donald Trump in case he ended up needing it. But it also raises questions about who could have leaked this recording. In other words, the big question here is whether or not Igor is the one who gave this tape to ABC News.

If Igor made the tape to begin with, then Igor was the one who has had it all along. It was his insurance policy, so he wouldn’t have voluntarily given it to anyone else. It’s possible the tape was seized by the Feds when they arrested Igor. But it’s difficult to imagine a scenario in which the Feds would leak trial evidence to the media ahead of the trial. After the news broke, Lev says that he dug up a copy of the recording in his iCloud and gave it to the House – but there’s no indication that Lev was ABC’s source to begin with. It’s also difficult to imagine a scenario in which ABC News would know that the recording was made by Igor, unless ABC got the recording from Igor’s camp.

Here’s where it gets tricky. As of a few days ago, Igor Fruman was still being represented by attorneys supplied by Donald Trump. If Igor has decided to sell Trump out to the media, he’s not going to stick with Trump’s lawyers. So the thing to watch in the coming days is whether or not Igor files in court to sever from his attorneys. If he does, it’ll mean he’s all but definitely flipped on Trump.