House Democrats have released a second batch of materials from Lev Parnas, a former associate of President TrumpDonald John TrumpLev Parnas implicates Rick Perry, says Giuliani had him pressure Ukraine to announce Biden probe Saudi Arabia paid 0 million for cost of US troops in area Parnas claims ex-Trump attorney visited him in jail, asked him to sacrifice himself for president MORE‘s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani
Rudy GiulianiLev Parnas implicates Rick Perry, says Giuliani had him pressure Ukraine to announce Biden probe Parnas says he doesn’t think that Joe Biden did anything wrong regarding Ukraine Parnas: Environment around Trump ‘like a cult’ MORE, as part of the official record to be included with impeachment articles transmitted to the Senate for its trial.
The records released Friday include two pictures showing Parnas, a Soviet-born businessman, posing next to Trump as well as a series of photographs showing Giuliani in various social settings including on a boat, at a baseball game and on a golf course.
Democrats also put into the record transcripts of Parnas’s interviews this week with MSNBC’s Rachel MaddowRachel Anne MaddowLev Parnas implicates Rick Perry, says Giuliani had him pressure Ukraine to announce Biden probe Parnas claims ex-Trump attorney visited him in jail, asked him to sacrifice himself for president Parnas says he doesn’t think that Joe Biden did anything wrong regarding Ukraine MORE and CNN’s Anderson Cooper in which he described his decision to speak out on allegations about efforts in Ukraine at the center of impeachment proceedings against Trump.
The House Intelligence Committee turned the materials over to the Judiciary panel to include it in the record to be sent to the Senate, which is expected to begin its trial of Trump in earnest on Tuesday.
“The documents provided today were part of large trove of documents and materials, including additional text messages and photos, produced to the Intelligence Committee by Lev Parnas in the last week pursuant to an October 10, 2019 subpoena. The Committee’s review of these materials is ongoing,” a Democratic official working on the impeachment trial said in a statement.
House Democrats earlier this week released a trove of documents offering more detail on a scheme to get Ukraine to launch investigations that would have benefitted the president politically and remove former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie YovanovitchMarie YovanovitchLev Parnas implicates Rick Perry, says Giuliani had him pressure Ukraine to announce Biden probe Parnas says he told Trump Yovanovitch was badmouthing him. Trump turned to aide and said ‘fire her’ Overnight Defense: GAO finds administration broke law by withholding Ukraine aid | Senate opens Trump trial | Pentagon to resume training Saudi students soon MORE.
The White House has pushed back on Parnas’s claims and Trump himself on Thursday denied knowing the businessman beyond posing for a photo with him.
“I don’t even know who this man is, other than I guess he attended fundraisers so I take a picture with him,” Trump told reporters at an Oval Office event. “I take thousands and thousand of pictures with people all the time. Thousands during the course of a year.”
