Lawyer for indicted Giuliani associate asks court’s permission to share material with House investigators
Indicted Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas’ attorney is asking a federal judge for permission to share some information seized from Parnas when he was arrested, including the contents of one of his iPhones, with House impeachment investigators.
“Review of these materials is essential to the Committee’s ability to corroborate the strength of Mr. Parnas’s potential testimony,” Joe Bondy, the lawyer for the indicted Giuliani associate, wrote in a letter to the Judge Paul Oetken, referring to the Democratic-led House Intelligence Committee.
Bondy wrote in the letter he expects to receive on Tuesday the contents of the iPhone and some documents seized from Parnas’ home from prosecutors. He told Oetken he isn’t sure how much of the material he will share with the Democrats on the committee.
Parnas, a Soviet-born American who worked with Giuliani to push claims of Democratic corruption in Ukraine, was charged in New York federal court in early October with conspiracy and campaign finance-related violations and has pleaded not guilty to his criminal charges. The Manhattan federal prosecutors continue to consider other charges related to his case, though their exact approach is unknown.
The same day Parnas and Igor Fruman, another Giuliani associate, were arrested in October, three House committees leading the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump subpoenaed the two men — demanding they turn over documents related to communications with the White House, Ukrainian officials and Giuliani by October 16.
The subpoenas requested Parnas and Fruman provide documents and communications related to efforts to persuade the Ukrainians to investigate Burisma, the energy company that placed former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter on its board, as well as the ouster of US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, for which Parnas and Fruman had pushed. There’s no evidence of wrongdoing by Joe or Hunter Biden in Ukraine.
It’s unclear how much information could be revealed by Parnas’ iPhone, or how much it will help Democrats’ case against the President. Earlier this month, the House voted to impeach Trump, charging him with abuse of power for withholding nearly $400 million in US military aid from Ukraine and a White House meeting while pressuring Ukraine’s president to investigate a Joe Biden, a potential political rival, and obstruction of Congress for thwarting the House’s investigative efforts.
