House Democrats released more new information from indicted former Ukrainian businessman Lev Parnas on Friday evening, as they prepare to submit evidence for the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump.
New text messages were compiled and sent over to the House Judiciary Committee and show Mr. Parnas in contact with Derek Harvey, a staffer for House Intelligence Ranking Member Devin Nunes, and reaching out to former Trump lawyer John Dowd.
There are also new messages, and audio, between Mr. Parnas and Republican congressional candidate Robert F. Hyde, where they discussed the location of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch while she was still at her post.
The newly released documents also contained a group of photographs of Mr. Parnas’ meeting with Mr. Trump, and members of the president’s inner circle, including his personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani.
Mr. Parnas’ recent interviews with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and CNN’s Anderson Cooper are also attached.
According to a Democratic aide, Democrats will publicly release their trial brief Saturday at 5 p.m.
SEE ALSO: Read the latest Lev Parnas documents released by House Democrats
The White House will need to file theirs by Monday at noon, allowing Democrats 24 hours to respond before opening arguments begin.
Earlier this week, Democrats released a trove of documents from Mr. Parnas, an associate Mr. Giuliani, that they intended to use in the case.
Those documents included handwritten notes about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announcing an investigation into former U.S. Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Mr. Trump’s political rival, and his son Hunter, and text messages with senior Ukrainian officials. One exchange even suggested that Ms. Yovanovitch was under surveillance before leaving her post.
One document includes a screenshot of a letter Mr. Giuliani sent to Mr. Zelensky asking to set up a meeting in May, for which he said he had Mr. Trump’s “knowledge and consent.”
During an interview on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” Wednesday night, Mr. Parnas claimed that Mr. Trump, Attorney General William P. Barr and Vice President Mike Pence were all well aware of his and Mr. Giuliani’s efforts to secure politically motivated investigations from Ukraine.
Mr. Giuliani, the White House, Mr. Pence and the Justice Department have all denied Mr. Parnas’ claims.
Democrats say his information enhances their case.
“Witnesses may tell the truth and witnesses may not tell the truth. Documents don’t generally lie. And in the documents that we submitted to the Judiciary Committee just last night, you see the importance of documents,” Rep. Adam B. Schiff, a House manager and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said this week.
But Republicans are skeptical, pointing to the criminal charges Mr. Parnas currently faces from Mr. Barr’s Justice Department.
“He seems like a shady character to me,” Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, said this week.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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