Impeachment proof: The beautiful new texts and paperwork, defined

The Home Intelligence Committee quietly launched a brand new batch of impeachment inquiry proof Tuesday night: paperwork supplied by Rudy Giuliani’s fixer for Ukraine, Lev Parnas.

And boy, are they ugly.

The paperwork, which embrace Parnas’s handwritten notes, copies of textual content messages, and different correspondence, reveal some new info — together with that Giuliani claimed to be appearing with President Trump’s “information and consent” in his communications with the Ukrainian authorities.

One handwritten word of Parnas’s, scribbled on Ritz-Carlton lodge stationery, clearly states his major goal in his dealings with Ukraine: to get Ukraine’s president to announce “the Biden case shall be investigated.”

The paperwork additionally present the strongest proof but that there was a corrupt understanding involving prosecutor common Yuriy Lutsenko (a Ukrainian official within the earlier regime). Lutsenko supplied to analyze Burisma and the Bidens — and, in alternate, he insisted that US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, whom he had clashed with, be fired. He made this quid professional quo clear in his messages to Parnas.

However most annoying of all is a set of messages Parnas obtained from an individual named Robert F. Hyde, a Republican congressional candidate. Hyde texted Parnas that he had individuals monitoring Yovanovitch’s actions carefully in Ukraine. He claimed he might inform whether or not her telephone and pc have been off. And he wrote: “If you would like her out they should make contact with safety forces.” (It isn’t but clear whether or not these claims by Hyde have been true.)

There’s comparatively little about Trump particularly right here — Parnas was a level faraway from the president — however the total takeaway is that the hassle to get grime on Biden stunk to excessive heaven of corruption.

Who’s Lev Parnas once more?

Lev Parnas is a Soviet-born US citizen now dwelling in Florida who donated massive sums of cash to Republicans lately and have become a detailed affiliate of Giuliani. Parnas and his colleague Igor Fruman ended up serving as Giuliani’s “fixers” in his seek for grime that may assist Trump politically in Ukraine. They talked to Ukrainian officers and tried to assist Giuliani get paperwork and conferences.

In October, although, Parnas and Fruman have been indicted by the US Legal professional’s Workplace for the Southern District of New York on fees of campaign finance law violations, relating to these a whole bunch of hundreds of {dollars} they donated to Republicans in 2018. Since then, Fruman has been quiet — however Parnas went public, claiming by way of his lawyer that he had necessary details about the impeachment inquiry that Democrats would need.

The decide in Parnas’s case gave him permission to show over a few of the proof prosecutors had obtained to Home impeachment investigators. He has performed so — and that is our first take a look at a few of what he supplied.

Giuliani instructed the Ukrainians he was appearing on Trump’s behalf

First off, the paperwork clarify that Giuliani instructed the Ukrainians he was appearing at Trump’s behest. He wrote a letter to Zelensky dated Might 10, 2019, whereas Zelensky was nonetheless president-elect and shortly earlier than he was inaugurated, asking for a gathering.

“In my capability as private counsel to President Trump and along with his information and consent, I request a gathering with you,” Giuliani wrote.

Giuliani didn’t clarify what the assembly was about — however the letter’s date is in the future after Giuliani told the New York Times he would quickly be touring to Kyiv to attempt to get the Ukrainian authorities to analyze the Bidens and supposed Ukraine interference within the 2016 election.

Giuliani additionally wrote within the letter that he could be accompanied on the journey by Victoria Toensing, a conservative lawyer concerned within the dirt-digging effort (whom Giuliani described as “very accustomed to this matter”).

The paperwork additionally reveal that when Parnas and Fruman got here underneath scrutiny within the impeachment inquiry (however earlier than his arrest), Trump personally accepted his former lawyer John Dowd’s illustration of the pair. That’s in accordance with an electronic mail from Trump’s lawyer Jay Sekulow.

Sekulow shall be amongst Trump’s protection group in his Senate trial.

An intriguing word from Parnas

One other attention-grabbing tidbit is a word — which the Home Intelligence Committee says Parnas has confirmed he wrote — laying out an obvious to-do record. It contains:

The word reads: “get Zalensky to Annonce that the Biden case shall be Investigated.” That’s, get Ukraine’s new president to announce an investigation of the Bidens.

That is important as a result of a number of Trump administration officers, akin to Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland, have lengthy claimed they solely mentioned the opportunity of investigating Burisma, the pure gasoline firm whose board Hunter Biden sat on.

However right here is Parnas overtly referring wanting Ukraine to analyze “the Biden case,” simply as Trump stated he needed on his infamous July 25 phone call with Zelensky. The circumstances by which the word was written — notably, the date and who Parnas could have been speaking to whereas he scribbled the word — are unclear.

An understanding tying Yovanovitch’s firing to Biden grime

One other batch of the proof pertains to communications Parnas had with Yuriy Lutsenko, who served as Ukraine’s prosecutor common underneath Zelensky’s predecessor.

To recap: A prologue, of kinds, to the impeachment saga occurred in March 2019 when Giuliani, Parnas, and numerous corrupt Ukrainians launched a smear marketing campaign in opposition to the US ambassador in Kyiv, Marie Yovanovitch.

These (translated) messages recommend that Lutsenko was demanding Yovanovitch’s firing — and that he communicated to Parnas that, in return, he would make allegations about “B.”

Above, Lutsenko tells Parnas that “when you don’t decide about Madam— you’re bringing into query all my allegations. Together with about B.” (“Madam” clearly means Yovanovitch, and “B” is shorthand for both Burisma or Biden, as later messages clarify.)

Lutsenko quickly writes about “testimony about transfers to B,” after which about “copies of funds from Burisma to Seneca.” (Rosemont Seneca Companions is the consulting agency Hunter Biden co-founded.) He additionally complains how Parnas can’t eliminate somebody feminine, to which Parnas responds, “She’s not getting away.”

A Parnas affiliate claimed to be surveilling Yovanovitch — and requested if he needed “her out”

Lastly, and most disturbingly, is a set of messages Parnas exchanged with an individual named Robert F. Hyde, a controversial Republican congressional candidate in Connecticut who has hung out at Mar-a-Lago and Trump’s DC hotel.

Parnas despatched Hyde tweets and articles from outstanding conservative media personalities — akin to Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, and Dan Bongino — disparaging Yovanovitch and suggesting she was disloyal. “Can’t consider Trumo [Trump] hasn’t fired this bitch,” Hyde responded. “I’ll get proper in that.”

About 13 hours later, Hyde reported again to Parnas: “She underneath heavy safety outdoors Kiev.” Then, two days later he stated he had “guys” there who might “do” one thing — and that he now knew Yovanovitch’s whereabouts, and that her telephone and pc have been off.

Hyde went on: “They’re prepared to assist if we/you desire to a worth.” He added: “Guess you are able to do something within the Ukraine with cash… what I used to be instructed.”

The following day, Hyde reported again that Yovanovitch wouldn’t be moved, and that his contacts have been asking “what’s the subsequent step.”

He added, ominously: “If you would like her out they should make contact with safety forces.”

A couple of days after that, Hyde reported he had “an individual inside,” and requested if Parnas nonetheless wanted “intel” or if they need to “stand down.”

In these messages, there isn’t any response from Parnas after that, for almost two months.

These messages definitely appear to recommend that Hyde was having Yovanovitch surveilled — and that one ominous message asking “if you’d like her out” could indicate one thing a lot darker.

ABC’s Katherine Faulders reached Hyde for remark, and he stated he was “completely not” threatening to hurt Yovanovitch. And it’s unclear whether or not Hyde — about whom little is thought, apart from that he owned a landscaping company in Connecticut — really had these capabilities, or whether or not it was some form of weird try at braggadocio. However it definitely appears to be one thing legislation enforcement ought to look into.