Parnas Details Giuliani Pressure on Justice Department

Lev Parnas told Reuters that Rudy Giuliani urged Justice Department prosecutors to go easy on businessman Alejandro Betancourt for money laundering and bribery because he had close ties to opposition figures looking to oust Venezuela’s socialist President Nicolas Maduro, a key objective of President Trump.

Giuliani declined to the confirm meeting with U.S. prosecutors on Betancourt’s behalf: “Lev Parnas has no right to be talking about that meeting. It was a confidential meeting — if it did happen.”