Republican lawmakers unwittingly entangled in a campaign finance scandal have scrambled to get rid of contributions from two men at the center of the alleged wrongdoing, both of whom were back in court Wednesday.
Igor Fruman and and Lev Parnas pleaded not guilty to violating campaign finance laws when they appeared in federal court in New York for their arraignment. Fruman, Parnas and two other men were indicted earlier this month for “engaging in a scheme to funnel foreign money to candidates.” The indictment alleged the two men did so to “buy potential influence with the candidates, campaigns, and the candidates’ governments.”
Fruman and Parnas, both Soviet-born U.S. citizens, are also tied to President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. They reportedly assisted with Giuliani’s quest to have the Ukrainian officials investigate former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company. Trump’s own push for Ukraine to investigate Biden and the Democratic National Committee is at the center of the ongoing impeachment probe.
While donations from Fruman and Parnas to the Trump campaign and an affiliated super PAC have grabbed headlines, Republican members of Congress were also drawn into the scandal, though they do not appear to have known that foreign contributions, which are prohibited by law, may have been involved. Prosecutors wrote the men “concealed the scheme from the candidates, campaigns, federal regulators, and the public.”
Current and former GOP lawmakers have worked to explain that they were not connected to the two men. They have also pledged to get rid of their contributions, though the mix of responses has raised questions about the process for handling tainted money.
