A 90-min recording involving President Donald Trump at a 2018 donor dinner was released on Saturday that showed him talking with the indicted businessmen he claims he doesn’t know. Even more serious thing is the talk between them that records Trump speaking to them for the ouster of the US ambassador to Ukraine – at one point uttering, “Get rid of her!”.
The audio tape was made public by an attorney for Lev Parnas, the Soviet-born businessman who later on worked with Rudy Giuliani for the removal of ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch. The ambassador was eventually removed from her job in April 2019.
“Get her out tomorrow. I don’t care,” the President says at a dinner with donors at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC. “Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. OK? Do it.”
The audio tape yet again reaffirms the allegations levelled against Mr. Trump who allegedly tasked Parnas the sacking of the ambassador. Interestingly Trump has maintained he doesn’t know the businessmen indicted in the scandal.
Parnas’ attorney on Saturday tweeted that they released the audio “given its importance to our national interest.” Joseph Bondy added that they had shared it with the House of Intelligence Committee.
In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Bondy said that he believes the recording is significant as “This is one of the first occasions in which (Trump) attempts to remove the ambassador.”
“Parnas, as he has explained it to me, was shocked that he might raise the subject of the ambassador and have the chief executives say, ‘Get rid of her and fire her,'” Bondy said. “You could never possibly have expected that the President would literally take that step.”
The attorney claimed that he holds more recordings of the President. The only which is said to have been made by another Giuliani associate, Igor Furman was shared with Parnas according to Bondy. Only the first 3 min of the recording include video footage followed by the audio. The discussion involving Ukraine reveals Trump asking a person who appears to be Parnas how long Ukraine would resist against Russia to which Parnas responds, “without us, not very long,” and another person breaking in “about 30 minutes.” Months later after the meeting, Trump would try to cut off military aid to Ukraine.
Ther person who appears to be Parnas as the recording goes on is heard saying, “the biggest problem there I think, where you need to start, is we gotta get rid of the ambassador. She’s still left over from the Clinton administration.”
Trump then responds with the question: “the ambassador to Ukraine?
“Yeah, she’s basically walking around telling everybody, ‘wait, he’s going to get impeached, just wait,’ Parnas answers. After a laughter by someone from the table, somebody added, “she’ll be gone tomorrow.”
After a pause of 10 seconds, Trump resumes, “Get rid of her. Ger her out tomorrow. I don’t care. Get her out tomorrow. Taker her out. Ok? Do it.”
Federal prosecutors are currently investigating Pranas, Fruman and Giuliani. When asked for their comment to the tapes that surfaced lately, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said, “Every President in our history had had the right to place people who support his agenda and his policies within his administration.”
