Parnas - TRUMP FIRST: How the President and his associates turned their backs on me and my family

TRUMP FIRST

How the President and his associates turned their backs on me and my family

Aaron G. Parnas

Copyright 2020 Aaron G. Parnas

All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 9798553915223
Printed in the United States of America

To my parents, Lev and Svetlana Parnas, my brothers, Daniel, Andrew, and Nathan Parnas, and my sister, Milana Parnas.
To those who stood by me and my family during the darkest times, thank you for everything.
To any young person feeling disenfranchised by this political system, better days lie ahead.

Contents

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank my mother for putting in late nights and early mornings with me during the entire publication process. Thank you to my friends and colleagues (you know who you are) who assisted in the editing and drafting of this memoir, especially those who have provided much needed emotional support during this time. Thank you to my father and siblings for being the support system I needed to put out this final product.

CHAPTER ONE

Hello President Maduro

Mr. President Maduro, Congressman Pete Sessions stated. It is an honor to speak with you over the phone. Hearing those words shocked me. In front of me were seven individuals, many of whom, at one point or another, had a direct line of communication with the President of the United States. The purpose of this call was to establish a back-channel communication with the embattled President of Venezuela in an attempt to provide him with a soft landing in the United States. The primary goal of this communication was not to effectuate an America First foreign policy approach. Instead, those around the table had one goal: to promote the Presidents Trump First agenda. What I did not know then, yet realize now, was that this phone call was just a microcosm within a larger shadow diplomacy scheme done for the sole purpose of benefitting President Donald J. Trump and his reelection pursuits.

Earlier that September morning, as I was getting ready for class, I received a call from my father notifying me that he was visiting Washington, D.C. At the time, I was a second-year law student at The George Washington University Law School and was excited for the opportunities I had to spend time with my father when he would often visit the city. In recent years, my fathers frequent travels, coupled with my move out of my hometown, was often difficult to balance. Because of this, I would relish the opportunities I had to continue our relationship when my father would travel into the city. However, what many fail to understand was that being with my father was unconventional. When my father would come into town, he would offer me an open door into a world I could only dream of, one that would soon be known to me as the Presidents orbit. To those living in it, this environment was normal, but to me, it often felt as though I was reliving the first day of school, meeting new colleagues, having very surface level conversations, and learning about the innerworkings of a new place. These interactions, as I would later learn, were commonplace in this world.

After receiving the call from my father earlier that morning, I made it my mission to get to the Trump International Hotel. Unlike most ordinary hotels, especially those in D.C., the Trump Hotel was filled with over-the-top opulence. Originally the Old Post Office building, the Trump hotel offers luxury within history. The entrance is extremely secluded, providing those who enter a sense of privacy away from the bustling streets of D.C. As you approach the front doors, guests are immediately greeted by over eager bellboys waiting to cater to your every need. Entering the hotel, guests are presented with an open floorplan, with a floor to ceiling bar displaying only the most expensive bottles of alcohol. In it, individuals sit in the shadow of large American flags, displaying the Presidents false sense of patriotism. The lobby presents a varied scene from the rest of the city. It is filled with power-players from the administration, wheeling and dealing in the shadow of the nations capital at all hours of the night. As my excitement to see my father built, I quickly finished up any outstanding schoolwork in order to make my way over to the hotel. What I did not know, however, was that later that night, I would be sitting next to Republican Congressman Pete Sessions and Rudy Giuliani, the Presidents personal attorney, attempting to establish a back channel of communication with the President Maduro.

Upon arrival at the hotel, I made my way to my fathers typical meeting spot in the lobby. Everyone at the hotel, from the management to the servers, knew my father by name and often had a table reserved for him close to the BLT Prime restaurant. Something that became clear to me during my time in D.C. is that the Trump Hotel became my fathers home away from home. What to me was originally a hotel where my family would occasionally stay on visits, turned into an extension of my own living room. It would be unimaginable for my father to travel to D.C. and not stay at the Trump. In fact, at one point, I even had the personal cell phone number of many of the staff at the Hotel because they treated us as if we were an extension of the President himself.

As I waited for my father in the lobby that afternoon, I was approached by a familiar face, his business partner, Igor Fruman. At the time, what I knew about Igor is that he worked with my father in the energy and natural gas sector and was our family friend. From our limited conversations, due to a language barrier between the two of us, I understood that he was originally born in Belarus, yet grew up in Ukraine prior to immigrating to the United States. My father facilitated most of the conversations as he was fluent in Russian even though he grew up in the United States since the age of four. Although I did not spend much time with Igor outside of when I waited for my father at the hotel, my siblings often spent time with Igors children since they were close in age.

Shortly after Igor came over, I was joined by David Correia. David worked closely with my father, on a number of entrepreneurial ventures for almost a decade. He was my fathers friend and business associate. At various points in my life, David acted as an extended family member, signing on as an emergency contact for my school and assisting me in drafting emails for potential employment opportunities. Growing up, Davids wife and kids often spent time at our home, and our families were in close contact with one another. Igor, David, and I were usually the first ones in the lobby. I would have known that my father was in town just by walking into the hotel, as Igor and David were almost always in our typical meeting spot.