The latest in the Ukraine caper: The chattering classes are abuzz about text messages and other materials turned over by Lev Parnas, the former Rudy Guliani associate indicted for violation of campaign finance laws.
Parnas turned over the contents of his iPhone over the weekend to the House Intelligence Committee. According to his attorney, this included a “trove…of messages…detailing interactions with a number of individuals relevant to the impeachment inquiry.” The committee this evening released a summary of the relevant contents, as well as some of the materials provided by Parnas. Parnas also provided handwritten notes, including one scrawled on a napkin at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Vienna: “get Zalensky [sic] to Annonce [sic] that the Biden case will Be Investigated.” Pretty on the nose, there.
The text messages from Parnas include a screenshot of a previously unreleased letter from Guliani to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Guliani requested a meeting “in my capacity as personal counsel to President Trump and with his knowledge and consent.” He stressed that “just to be precise, I represent him as a private citizen, not as President of the United States.”
A federal judge ruled yesterday that Parnas can provide materials from three other devices as well.
Will any of these materials shake anything up in the impeachment drama? Who knows!
The Parnas news gives Mike Huckabee critic Daniel Uhlfelder a chance to jab the Huckster:
This is devastating for Mike Huckabee, Matt Gaetz and Devin Nunes https://t.co/NjllLjwC62
— Daniel W. Uhlfelder (@DWUhlfelderLaw) January 13, 2020