In January of 2020, UncoverDC reported on the arrest of Lev Parnas, a prominent figure in the impeachment saga of President Trump, and an alleged ally of the President’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.
In the story, we uncovered that a group called the “Campaign Legal Center”, linked to George Soros’ Open Society Foundation, was behind the FEC complaints that led to the arrest, with the first complaint being filed in 2018, and then another second complaint (that led to the criminal indictment) filed on June 20th of 2019.
New information found in the release of the report today entitled “Hunter Biden, Burisma, and Corruption: The Impact on U.S. Policy and Related Concerns” sheds light on precisely who was involved with the June complaint that ultimately led to the indictment. Sally Painter likely knew of and perhaps influenced, the complaint ultimately filed by Soros backed not-for-profit Campaign Legal Center. On June 18th, just two days before the supplemental complaint filed by CLC, Painter messaged Andrii Telizhenko simply “Complaint Filed”, directly after a message discussing the Democrat’s planned investigation into Rudy Giuliani for trips he took to Ukraine to investigate the Biden/Burisma corruption.
Painter, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of Blue Star Strategies, a powerful “Democrat Lobby Shop” as per the report, was questioned in the committee’s investigation. Blue Star Strategies plays a large role in the Ukraine controversy and the democrat’s impeachment case, as the LLC was hired by Burisma in 2015 to work on various matters. They are a member of the US-Ukraine Business Council, an organization that hosted Democrat “star” witness William B Taylor, as UncoverDC reported here. Taylor also worked on the board of a Soros funded NGO.
Painter also sits on the Board of Directors of the Atlantic Council, an organization with integral associates connected to the impeachment of President Trump (along with other controversies over the years). The report goes into detail about a Blue Star engagement with Burisma that lasted several years, as well as Blue Star’s employment of Andrii Telizhenko, a former official at the Ukraine embassy, and one of the main players to come forward and speak about the 2016 election interference by Ukraine.
History with Burisma
Blue Star Strategies was contracted by Burisma in November of 2015, and the report outlines meetings Blue Star was involved in around the time that Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin was fired. A now-infamous video of Biden discussing the dismissal of Shokin has been used to show clear evidence of Biden exerting his political influence to withhold aid from Ukraine, should they not fire the prosecutor looking into his son’s company. There was much outreach between Blue Star and the State Department, as well as clear evidence that Blue Star was integral to the controversial loan guarantees from the US to Ukraine.
Also at the meetings with Blue Star executives, Ukrainian officials, and the State Department, was Andrii Telizhenko, a key player in Blue Star’s work with Burisma. In addition to his work at the embassy, Telizhenko was employed by Blue Star until 2017. Even after his employment with them ended, Blue Star principals remained in contact with Telizhenko years later, and Painter accepted his advice and maintained contact with him until as late as August of 2019.
A Giuliani Conundrum
Telizhenko is most well known for his relationship with President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. He featured in a documentary series about Ukrainian corruption produced by OANN and journalist Chanel Rion. During the time he was working with Giuliani to help expose the corruption in Ukraine, he was also maintaining contact with Sally Painter from Blue Star Strategies. Text messages given voluntarily to the committee by Telizhenko detail Sally Painter inquiring about Giuliani, and whether things were getting “complicated” for Telizhenko during the summer of 2019.
Painter references the Giuliani/Biden “battle” in an August 22, 2019 text message while asking about the trustworthiness of Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Zelensky who disputed portions of the impeachment testimony from Gordon Sondland, about a Trump quid pro quo.
In that message, she asks “Does he understand the complexity of Gulianni (sp) Biden Battle? Many thanks for your insights”. The rest of the message is appended.
Painter is seen in the messages telling Andrii to remove his affiliation to Blue Star Strategies from his resume, and she explained during questioning that she had asked him to remove the reference because Telizhenko was working “more and more with Mr. Giuliani, and we had a conversation about whether it would hurt him with the Republicans if he had Blue Star on his resume”.
She was asked by the questioner “So you’re advising Mr. Telizhenko on how to better work with Rudy Giuliani and Republicans?” to which she replies “Ironically, Mr. Telizhenko was asking my advice”.
On June 18th, Painter sent a message to Telizhenko stating simply “complaint filed”. When asked what that complaint was, Painter states she has no recollection of what that meant, and when pressed she doubled down on the claim.
UncoverDC can report that the complaint referenced by Sally Painter, is likely the complaint filed with the FEC by Campaign Legal Center, the same Soros funded not-for-profit that filed the first complaint against Parnas a year prior. This complaint led to the arrest of Parnas and was used by the legacy media to attack and impugn the character of both Giuliani and the information he brought forth. The date of the complaint filed by the CLC that ultimately led to the indictment of Parnas and his associates was just two days after Painter references the complaint in her message. The CLC bragged about their influence in the arrests on their website as seen below. You can read the letter here. The arrest was used as a cudgel in legacy press to besmirch Giuliani and his work, with chairman Adam Schiff even attempting to tie Parnas to both Congressman Devin Nunes (R, CA) and reporter John Solomon.
UncoverDC spoke with Telizhenko and inquired if he knew what Painter meant when she sent him the text regarding the complaint. He replied, “something to do with Giuliani”. Telizhenko said he had warned Giuliani about the message. When asked about the ongoing relationship with Blue Star he replied “keeping your friends close, and your enemies closer”.
Obsession with Giuliani
Painter was concerned with the work of Rudy Giuliani and spoke of it many times in her messages to Telizshenko, who she knew was also working with him at the time. The attack on Parnas makes it all the more interesting. Parnas was providing information to Giuliani, and had a direct connection to the fired prosecutor who had been looking into the corruption involving Biden, Viktor Shokin. Parnas shared information with Giuliani in regards to now-fired ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, an Obama appointee who handed a “do not prosecute” list to Lutsenko, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General, in their first meeting. Yovanovitch was also an impeachment witness, as well as a frequent guest of the Atlantic Council.
The Democrats seized on Parnas’ relationship with Giuliani, and for his part, once he was under the heat lamp, Parnas appeared to flip. He began releasing text messages to the Democrat committee and its chairman, Adam Schiff, and also released recordings he had made at a private fundraising meeting with President Trump and business officials, in which President Trump quickly referenced Yovanovitch. Yovanovitch was a central figure in Republican assertions of corruption in Ukraine, and the United States’ actions as it pertained to that corruption.
Just this month, a superseding indictment was filed in the case against Parnas and his business partners, and that criminal case continues.
Senator Johnson Targeted Before Report Release
More interestingly, in advance of the release of this report, Senator Johnson has drawn attention to the fact that Democrats have been attacking both he and Chuck Grassley (R, IA), accusing them of accepting and using “Russian disinformation” in the investigation into Burisma. Just a few weeks ago, Senator Johnson released an eight-page open letter decrying the tactics, including an addendum that shared an excerpt of an op-ed written in August of 2020 by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D, CT). Blumenthal’s piece stated the following:
“On Wednesday, The Post reported that Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, is moving ahead with an investigation into presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s family using documents provided to the senator by the son of a former KGB officer. Johnson’s actions are of such concern to the CIA, according to news reports, that the agency has refused to brief him. Think of it: Congress may become a forum for debunked conspiracy theories peddled by Kremlin proxies.”
Johnson responded:
In the report today, we learned that the Democrats were pinning the “Russian disinformation” on Telizhenko. It is addressed here:
What is not addressed by the Democrats, however, is Telizhenko’s long relationship with the State Department and Blue Star Strategies. As we have just reported, he was meeting and working with Blue Star Strategies as late as August of 2019, at the same time as he was providing information to Rudy Giuliani in regards to Burisma corruption, and Ukraine’s attempted influence in the 2016 election.
UncoverDC will continue to report on this developing story.
