Hunter Biden had an emotional meeting with Lev Parnas, a former adversary and key figure in former President Trump's efforts to expose Biden's son, in a new documentary from MSNBC and Rachel Maddow, who calls the remorseful prisoner a “hero.”
The documentary, titled “From Russia with Lev,” charts Parnas' journey from his time working for various criminal organizations to his stint in Hollywood and ultimately becoming a central figure in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
Parnas has since recanted from work he did for Trump's former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, where he played a central role in pushing accusations that President Biden acted in Ukraine to benefit his son.
The outcome is significant for Hunter Biden, whose allegations by Giuliani and Parnas sparked a Justice Department investigation into the president's son, led to a conviction in a firearms case and who pleaded guilty Thursday in a separate tax case.
Parnas has been emotional both when speaking directly to the camera and during his meeting with Biden.
“Our actions in Ukraine, spreading this disinformation about Hunter Biden, are creating real problems, real criminal problems, that he faces right now,” Parnas said.
“I have a son, Hunter Biden's son, who is an American citizen who has nothing to do with politics, and it's sad to see the pain that has been caused in his life,” he added tearfully.
The documentary follows Parnas' nervous arrival in Los Angeles on July 7 for a meeting with Biden, which ended with an embrace.
“It takes a really great man to not only admit that you were wrong, but to do it publicly and on a stage like you did,” Biden said. He noted that Parnas had appeared on television and stood before a “hostile committee” — referring to a March hearing of the House Oversight Committee that was investigating the Biden family's overseas business dealings — “and throughout that time, you were getting beaten down badly.”
“What I saw was a man of extraordinary character at a time when it really mattered.”
“I promise you, from the bottom of my heart, you're a hero to me. I was really, really, really proud. I was so proud of you,” Hunter Biden added.
The meeting between the two was not originally planned and took place in the final stages of filming the documentary, The Hill reported.
Parnas said the investigation into Biden's son was sparked by his work and came at the request of others close to Trump.
“Basically from the very beginning, from his first meeting with Mr. Trump and shortly thereafter, Mr. Giuliani began calling all of his contacts at the Department of Justice and the FBI and pressuring them to investigate you, your father and all of his dealings with Ukraine,” Parnas said.
“Hunter, you have to understand, at the time I truly believed that a shadowy government existed. I truly believed that you were up to something evil.”
In 2022, Parnas was sentenced to 20 months in prison for fraud and campaign finance violations.
Biden acknowledged he had no qualms about Republican allies abandoning their former fixer.
“They turned their backs on us, and at that point, well, I'll tell you, I didn't have much sympathy,” he said, later adding: “We deserve a second chance. Both of us.”
“I gave them a lot of ammunition,” Biden said. “Addiction is never an excuse, but it is an explanation, it explains why I ended up in that room and did things that I now feel ashamed of.”
Parnas has been vocal in denying the earlier allegations.
Last July, he wrote to the House Oversight Committee, in the midst of its impeachment investigation of President Biden, saying that despite months of investigation, “there is no evidence that Hunter or Joe Biden committed any crime related to Ukrainian politics.”
He also said that Giuliani and everyone else involved in the matter “knew that these allegations against Biden were false.”
Parnas has also written a book about his journey and said he is working to clear Biden's name, even testifying before the House Oversight Committee earlier this year.
“After nearly a year of traveling the world and interviewing officials from many countries, I have found absolutely no evidence of corruption against Biden in Ukraine. No credible source has ever provided me with evidence of criminal conduct,” Parnas said at the March hearing.
The film will premiere Saturday at the “MSNBC Live: Democracy 2024” event at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and will air on MSNBC on September 20 at 9 p.m.
The documentary premiered just weeks after the House Republican impeachment report alleged that President Biden engaged in impeachable conduct related to his son's overseas business dealings, but relied primarily on circumstantial evidence and presented no direct evidence that he financially benefited from the overseas business deals.
Hunter Biden also entered a surprise guilty plea on Thursday in a tax evasion case, saying he did not want his family to go through the “pain” they experienced during his trial when he was convicted of lying about illegal drug use on a federal gun purchase application.
Hunter Biden is scheduled to be sentenced in the firearms case on November 13 and in the tax case on December 16.
