senate impeachment trial
Trump apparently gave Giuliani his 'consent' to request a meeting with Ukrainian president, new impeachment evidence shows
The evidence from Lev Parnas has arrived.
Parnas is an indicted Soviet-born associate of President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who aided in Giuliani's campaign to pressure Ukraine into investigating Trump's domestic rivals. He previously turned over evidence related to Trump's impeachment in compliance with a congressional subpoena. Today, House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) turned the documents over to House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), who will send the evidence over to the Senate, where it could possibly be used in Trump's upcoming impeachment trial.
Among the evidence provided by Parnas are handwritten notes he took during a meeting in Vienna, where he wrote that he needed to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce that Ukraine would launch an investigation tied to former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Another revelation came in the form of a draft letter from Giuliani to Zelensky, in which Giuliani requested to meet with the Ukrainian leader. Notably, he said he was making the request with Trump's "knowledge and consent," though it's unclear from the letter if Giuliani and Trump had ever discussed the specifics of the meeting.
Parnas then allegedly sent a copy of the letter to a Zelensky aide, but the sit-down never actually came to fruition. Read the House Intelligence Committee's letter here.