Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Newly Released Texts Tie Nunes Aide Closer to Ukraine Plot
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
January 20, 2020

Share

WASHINGTON — New documents released by House Democrats suggest that Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, was more deeply involved than was previously known in efforts by allies of President Donald Trump to dig up dirt in Ukraine on former Vice President Joe Biden.
Democrats on the Intelligence Committee released a trove of text messages, photos and other documents Friday night as part of the impeachment inquiry. The materials were provided to the House by Lev Parnas, a Florida businessman who worked with Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to try to persuade the Ukrainian government to launch an investigation into Biden.
Nunes initially denied knowing Parnas but has since been forced to admit the two had spoken. The messages released Friday show about 100 text messages traded over months between Parnas and the California Republican’s staffer, Derek Harvey, a retired U.S. Army colonel. Harvey previously served at the White House on Trump’s National Security Council.
The months-long effort directed by Trump and Giuliani to prod Ukrainian officials to launch an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine is at the core of the two impeachment articles against Trump passed last month in a largely party-line vote. The non-partisan Government Accountability Office ruled Thursday that the White House broke the law last summer when it withheld congressionally authorized security assistance to Ukraine, essential aid that Democrats allege was being held hostage pending the announcement of the investigations Trump sought.
Parnas and his business partner, Igor Fruman, both U.S. citizens who emigrated from the former Soviet Union, were indicted last year on charges of conspiracy, making false statements and falsification of records. Prosecutors allege they made outsize campaign donations to Republican causes after receiving millions of dollars originating from Russia. The men have pleaded not guilty.

Nunes Initially Said He Couldn’t Remember Ever Speaking With Parnas

Friday’s document dump included dozens of texts exchanged between Parnas and Harvey last Spring over the encrypted messaging service WhatsApp. They show Parnas providing documents and helping set up meetings for Harvey with Ukrainians who have made unsubstantiated claims that as vice president Biden orchestrated the firing of a prosecutor who was investigating corruption allegations involving Burisma, a energy company where Hunter Biden served as a board member from 2014 to 2019.

“I checked it with my records and it was very clear — I remember that call, which was very odd, random, talking about random things, and I said, ‘great,’ you know, ‘talk to my staff,’ and boom, boom, boom. That’s just normal operating procedure.” Rep. Devin Nunes
Among the documents Parnas sent to Harvey is a scan of the Ukrainian passport of Burisma’s founder. The texts also show Harvey scheduling phone calls with Parnas and a face-to-face meeting at the Trump International Hotel in Washington.
A spokesman for Nunes’ congressional office did not respond to messages left by email and phone on Saturday.
Phone records released by House Democrats in December showed several calls between Parnas and Nunes, who helped lead the Republican’s defense of Trump during the House impeachment hearings.
Nunes initially said he couldn’t remember ever speaking with Parnas. But this week, after new documents were released showing additional contacts, Nunes said his memory had been jogged.
“I checked it with my records and it was very clear — I remember that call, which was very odd, random, talking about random things, and I said, ‘great,’ you know, ‘talk to my staff,’ and boom, boom, boom,” Nunes told Fox News on Wednesday. “That’s just normal operating procedure.”

Hyde Denied He Was Actually Tailing the Ambassador

Last month, Nunes threatened to sue Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu if his fellow Californian didn’t apologize for statements accusing him of conspiring with Parnas. After the new documents emerged, Lieu responded on Twitter: “Devin, I’m adding to my statement: ‘Your pants are on fire.’”
The documents released late Friday included more text messages between Parnas and Robert F. Hyde, a Republican candidate for Congress from Connecticut, who claimed to be in contact with people in Kyiv who were conducting surveillance on former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch before she was ousted by the Trump administration last spring.
The messages included screenshots of exchanges between Hyde and a Dutch man named Anthony De Caluwe. Hyde denied he was actually tailing the ambassador.
In a profanity-laced video posted online Friday, Hyde alleged the messages were probably “from some intel guy” who was “trying to set Trump up.” “I’m sure if I disappeared or died or they gag-ordered me, they’re going to use me as a smoking gun, some (expletive) like that I have Ukrainian ties.”
FBI agents were observed visiting Hyde’s home and business on Thursday, while police in Ukraine have opened an investigation into whether the U.S. ambassador was illegally surveilled.
In a statement issued to The New York Times on Saturday, De Caluwe denied having any contacts in Ukraine and dismissed his exchange with Hyde was just “ridiculous banter.”

DON'T MISS

What Will Happen to CNBC and MSNBC When They No Longer Have a Corporate Connection to NBC News?

DON'T MISS

Bulldogs Stack Double-Doubles Like Burgers on a Plate to Beat Prairie View

DON'T MISS

Bitcoin Is at the Doorstep of $100,000 as Post-Election Rally Rolls On

DON'T MISS

US Regulators Seek to Break Up Google, Forcing Chrome Sale as Part of Monopoly Punishment

DON'T MISS

Wall Street Climbs as Nvidia Swings, Bitcoin Rises and Alphabet Sinks

DON'T MISS

Major Storm Drops Record Rain, Downs Trees in Northern California After Devastation Further North

DON'T MISS

Police Report Reveals Assault Allegations Against Hegseth, Trump’s Pick for Defense Secretary

DON'T MISS

Republicans Target Social Sciences to Curb Ideas They Don’t Like

DON'T MISS

Gaetz Withdraws as Trump’s Pick for Attorney General

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Men Arrested in Armed Robbery Near Sanger High, Sanger Academy

UP NEXT

Major Storm Drops Record Rain, Downs Trees in Northern California After Devastation Further North

UP NEXT

Newsom Heads to Fresno, a County That Voted for Trump

UP NEXT

Conservative Professors and Students Are Suing California’s Community Colleges, and Winning

UP NEXT

Thousands of University of California Workers Go on 2-Day Strike Over Wages, Staff Shortages

UP NEXT

Gavin Newsom Pledged to Release His Tax Returns Every Year. The Last One Was for 2020.

UP NEXT

California Governor Will Not Make Clemency Decision for Menendez Brothers Until New DA Reviews Case

UP NEXT

Fewer Kids Are Going to California Public Schools. Is There a Right Way to Close Campuses?

UP NEXT

California Voters Reject Measure That Would Have Raised Minimum Wage to Nation-High $18 Per Hour

UP NEXT

Bomb Cyclone Kills 1 and Knocks Out Power to Over Half a Million Homes Across the Northwest US

UP NEXT

With Democracy Supposedly at Stake, California Voters Stayed Away in Droves

US Regulators Seek to Break Up Google, Forcing Chrome Sale as Part of Monopoly Punishment

14 minutes ago

Wall Street Climbs as Nvidia Swings, Bitcoin Rises and Alphabet Sinks

19 minutes ago

Major Storm Drops Record Rain, Downs Trees in Northern California After Devastation Further North

30 minutes ago

Police Report Reveals Assault Allegations Against Hegseth, Trump’s Pick for Defense Secretary

38 minutes ago

Republicans Target Social Sciences to Curb Ideas They Don’t Like

44 minutes ago

Gaetz Withdraws as Trump’s Pick for Attorney General

1 hour ago

Fresno County Men Arrested in Armed Robbery Near Sanger High, Sanger Academy

1 hour ago

Newsom Heads to Fresno, a County That Voted for Trump

1 hour ago

Conservative Professors and Students Are Suing California’s Community Colleges, and Winning

2 hours ago

How Trump Can Earn a Place in History That He Did Not Expect

2 hours ago

What Will Happen to CNBC and MSNBC When They No Longer Have a Corporate Connection to NBC News?

NEW YORK — Comcast’s corporate reorganization means that there will soon be two television networks with “NBC” in their na...

2 minutes ago

2 minutes ago

What Will Happen to CNBC and MSNBC When They No Longer Have a Corporate Connection to NBC News?

6 minutes ago

Bulldogs Stack Double-Doubles Like Burgers on a Plate to Beat Prairie View

7 minutes ago

Bitcoin Is at the Doorstep of $100,000 as Post-Election Rally Rolls On

14 minutes ago

US Regulators Seek to Break Up Google, Forcing Chrome Sale as Part of Monopoly Punishment

19 minutes ago

Wall Street Climbs as Nvidia Swings, Bitcoin Rises and Alphabet Sinks

30 minutes ago

Major Storm Drops Record Rain, Downs Trees in Northern California After Devastation Further North

38 minutes ago

Police Report Reveals Assault Allegations Against Hegseth, Trump’s Pick for Defense Secretary

44 minutes ago

Republicans Target Social Sciences to Curb Ideas They Don’t Like

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend