4-5 minutes
The House has released more documents related to their impeachment
investigation of President Donald Trump -- this time linking Rep. Devin
Nunes and a congressional candidate to dealings in Ukraine.
The information comes from the third set of documents House Democrats
released this week from Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian-American associate of
Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. The House released the new
trove Friday evening.
The documents include text messages between Derek Harvey, Nunes' top
aide, and Parnas in 2019, apparently discussing U.S. military aid to
Ukraine and Trump's desire for Ukraine to investigate his political
rival, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter
Biden. Harvey also appears to give Parnas Nunes' phone number in the
days before a House intelligence committee report said Nunes, R-Calif.,
had a phone conversation with Parnas.
House Democrats accuse Trump of withholding millions in military aid --
and a meeting between Trump and Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr
Zelensky -- from Ukraine in exchange for an announcement of the Biden
investigation. A probe into this allegation resulted in the House
approving two articles of impeachment against the president, including
obstruction of Congress.
In the messages, Harvey and Parnas set up interviews with Ukrainian
officials and meetings at Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.,
with Giuliani. One planned meeting included former Ukrainian Prosecutor
General Viktor Shokin, whose firing former Vice President Joe Biden
urged.
Trump and Giuliani have both said they have encouraged Ukraine to carry
out the investigation into the Bidens. They accused Joe Biden of
pressuring Ukraine to fire Shokin, who was investigating a company for
which Hunter Biden served on the board.
Shokin's successor, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko told Bloomberg in
May that the investigation into the company began before Hunter Biden
joined the board, and he wasn't specifically a target of the probe.
Harvey and Parnas also discussed John Solomon, the former Hill columnist
who wrote articles criticizing former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie
Yovanovitch. She was one of the major obstacles in Trump's attempts to
have Ukraine investigate the Bidens, and he recalled her in April.
Yovanovitch said she found Trump's efforts to remove her undermining,
dangerous and precedent-setting. House Democrats believe she was
recalled after a smear campaign led by Giuliani.
The new trove of documents also appeared to show efforts to surveil
Yovanovitch. There are screenshots of text exchanges between Republican
congressional candidate Robert Hyde and a phone number in Belgium. The
unknown person using the Belgian number tells Hyde about Yovanovitch's
whereabouts.
"Nothing has changed she is still not moving they checked today again," the person texted.
Parnas' attorneys said he provided the documents to House investigators
in response to a September subpoena. Records released by House Democrats
earlier in the week included 59 pages of communications describing an
attempted meeting between Giuliani and Zelensky, and the effort to oust
Yovanovitch.
Parnas and his business partner Igor Furman were arrested Oct. 9 and
charged with conspiracy to commit campaign finance fraud, making false
statements to the Federal Election Commission and falsifying records as
part of a supposed scheme to "funnel foreign money to U.S. candidates."
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