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In what is sure to be a strong blow to the Republican defense of why there should be no witnesses in the upcoming Trump impeachment trial, Dems have now released shocking new evidence that they plan to send to the Senate.
Part of this new evidence includes handwritten notes and text messages from an indicted Rudy Giuliani associate that show he pushed for a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Giuliani.
There is also distressing evidence of an effort to oust the then-US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, from her position.
Lev Parnas, the indicted Rudy Giuliani associate, provided documents to the Intelligence panel’s staff over the weekend that were hand-delivered by his attorney. The documents included a handwritten note written by Lev Parnas that read, “get Zalensky (sic) to Annonce (sic) that the Biden case will Be Investigated.”
Other evidence included a letter that Giuliani wrote to then-President-elect Zelensky in an attempt to request a meeting as the President’s “personal attorney,” where he wrote that he was working “with the President’s knowledge and consent.”
The text messages that were included in the documents show that Parnas had communication with members of Zelensky’s aides. In the texts, he provided information that shed a negative light on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Those messages also revealed another attempt to set up a meeting between Giuliani and Zelensky.
There were also text messages that show an exchange involving former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, who was the instigator of the unsubstantiated allegations against Joe Biden last year.
In the texts, he suggests that if he were to provide allegations about Biden to Giuliani, then Yovanovitch should be removed. He said, “If you don’t make a decision about Madam, you are bringing into question all my allegations, including about B.”
A new figure was also revealed in the series of texts – Republican Connecticut congressional candidate Robert Hude. In the texts to Parnas, he ranted about a person who has been identified as Marie Yovanovitch.
In crude language he wrote, “F*ck that b*tch,” and said, “Wow. Can’t believe Trumo (sic) hasn’t fired this b*tch. I’ll get right on that.”
Other parts of the messages included verbiage that suggested that Yovanovitch was being tracked, such as “Wake up Yankees man. She’s talked to three people. Her phone is off. Computer is off. She’s next to the embassy. Not in the embassy. Private security. Been there since Thursday.”
He also told Parnas, “That address I sent you checks out” and “They are willing to help you if we/you would like a price. Guess you can do anything in the Ukraine with money… what I was told.”
The texts raise questions about Yovanovitch’s safety during the period before she was ousted.
When asked whether the House impeachment managers would be able to present any new evidence to the Senate, Adam Schiff replied saying he didn’t know. In an interview on MSNBC, Schiff explained why.
“This is going to be a partisan resolution by Mitch McConnell, and I’m sure it will be drafted with the White House lawyers to give the President every advantage.”
“I will say this, though,” he continued. “It is going to be hard for the Senate to ignore information that comes into the public record and say we’re not going to consider that, even though it’s directly relevant, even though it’s directly incriminating.”
This new document dump by Parnas is one of several developments that have occurred since two impeachment articles were passed by the House against the President.
