The real reason Lev Parnas is blowing up Donald Trump

| 7:00 pm EST January 15, 2020
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Rachel Maddow has made the incredible announcement that Lev Parnas is appearing on her MSNBC show tonight, just one day after the House released evidence from Parnas which revealed a Trump regime plot to hire local goons to target a U.S. Ambassador. In so doing, Lev just confessed to even more serious crimes than what he’s been charged with – and that’s before getting to whatever he confesses to Maddow tonight. So what’s he doing?

There are two key factors to consider here. First, Lev Parnas just got this evidence back from federal prosecutors, after they seized it during a raid. So by giving this evidence to the House and to the public, Lev isn’t revealing anything about his crimes that prosecutors don’t already have on him. We don’t know if the SDNY has been planning to bring a superseding indictment against Lev for the plot against Yovanovitch. But we do know that SDNY was already in a position to do so, because it already had the evidence. So what’s Lev risking here? Probably not much.

The second key factor is that Lev Parnas is actively cooperating with the House Intelligence Committee, while apparently not cooperating with federal prosecutors. This, combined with Lev’s attorney’s recent demand that Bill Barr recuse himself, strongly suggests that Lev doesn’t think he can get a fair shake from the DOJ as long as Trump and Barr are in charge of it. By cooperating with the House now, Lev appears to be angling for leniency from the DOJ after the election – which means Lev is betting that Trump will lose the election.

That’s not a bad bet, considering Donald Trump’s 2020 poll numbers are already in the toilet. Lev Parnas appears to be betting that by putting the incriminating evidence out there, he can help make sure Trump loses the election. We’ll see what Lev has up his sleeve for tonight.