PARNAS: He sends Vice President instead. He's to go there and get it straightened out that Zelensky was supposed to make another announcement. That didn't happen. That's when Bolton, Secretary Bolton, went over there. I think he has a lot to say. I think he's a key witness to his conversation with Zelensky, and when he came back and why he left, got fired, however you want to look at that.

MADDOW: When Vice President Pence went over there September 1st, in President Trump's stead, you have reason to believe that Vice President Pence was tasked at that meeting with getting President Zelensky to announce investigation into Joe Biden specifically and tell them they wouldn't get the aid --

PARNAS: I don't know exactly, but like I said, the aid itself was something that I think the President decided to do -- what's it called? I think it was a reaction that there was no announcement being made after so many attempts and so many performs.

MADDOW: Holding the aid was the President's sort of innovation to add to the leverage --

PARNAS: I think so.

MADDOW: Add to the pressure that people like you, the Vice President, Mr. Giuliani, everybody else involved was putting on Ukraine. When you say "Mr. Bolton may have something to say", did Mr. Bolton know that Vice President Pence was supposed to secure that agreement?

PARNAS: I don't know exactly, but I know Mr. Bolton was definitely involved in the loop because of thes firing of Marie Yovanovitch. and he was not -- they started butting heads, and from Bolton did not agree with Giuliani on the way of dealing with it, so there was tension there. There was definitely tension there.

MADDOW: But you believe he knows what the administration was pressuring Ukraine to do?

PARNAS: Bolton? 100%. He knows what happened there.