House Intelligence has video, audio recordings from Giuliani associate at center of Ukraine probe: report

The House Intelligence Committee, led by Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), is reportedly in possession of audio and video recordings of a close associate to Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s lawyer, related to their efforts to persuade Ukraine’s government to launch investigations politically benefiting the president.

Recordings provided to the committee by Lev Parnas, one of two Giuliani associates previously arrested on suspicion of committing campaign finance violations, include conversations between Giuliani and Trump himself, ABC News reported Sunday.

{mosads}Schiff’s committee is leading the ongoing impeachment inquiry into Trump, whose efforts to push Ukraine’s government to launch a criminal investigation into one of his top 2020 rivals, former Vice President Joe Biden, have become central to Democrats’ claims that Trump abused his power.

“Mr. Parnas has vociferously and publicly asserted his wish to comply with his previously issued subpoena and to provide the House Intelligence Committee with truthful and important information that is in furtherance of justice, not to obstruct it,” Parnas’s attorney said in a statement Sunday.

The recordings were reportedly provided to Schiff’s committee in response to a congressional subpoena, though some information requested by the Democrats remains in the hands of federal investigators in New York, according to ABC.

Parnas’s attorney also told reporters days ago that his client is prepared to tell congressional investigators about a meeting between the panel’s ranking member, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), and a Ukrainian prosecutor that occurred as Nunes was aiding the Trump administration’s search for dirt on the former vice president.

“Mr. Parnas learned from former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Victor Shokin that Nunes had met with Shokin in Vienna last December,” his attorney Joseph Bondy told CNN.

Parnas and Fruman, who are not part of the Trump administration, have nevertheless become part of the House impeachment proceedings due to their efforts to oust former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who was seen as an obstacle to the Trump administration’s efforts to push Ukrainian officials to launch politically charged investigations.