The real story behind who leaked Donald Trump’s “take her out” recording

| 9:09 am EST January 25, 2020
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

Yesterday Palmer Report raised the question of who actually gave ABC News the recording of Donald Trump saying “take her out” in reference to U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. ABC made clear in its original article that Igor Fruman was the one who had originally made the recording. Then last night a rapid succession of events served to muddy the waters.

Last night Lev Parnas’ attorney Joseph Bondy appeared on MSNBC and confirmed that Lev had just given a copy of the recording to the House Intelligence Committee. This led numerous observers to conclude that Lev was also the source for the ABC News story. But Bondy actually told a very different story on-air. He said that after Lev heard about the ABC News story, he remembered that Igor had given him a copy a long time ago, and he went and dug it up and then gave it to the House.

In other words, Lev Parnas was not the source of the ABC News story. That means someone else who had the recording took it to ABC News. This leaves only a couple possibilities. The first is that Igor Fruman, who originally made the recording, directly or indirectly gave it to ABC because he’s decided to flip on Donald Trump. If this is the case, it’ll mean Igor has to divorce himself from Trump’s attorneys soon, which would require a court filing.

The second possibility is that someone else in Igor’s inner circle decided to leak this tape to the media, even though Igor doesn’t want it out there. We know know that Igor gave a copy to Lev, so it’s certainly possible that Igor also gave copies to other people close to him. But Igor wasn’t involved in the leak, it means another player in the Lev-Igor loop has emerged, and is carrying out his or her own agenda. Stay tuned.