New documents released by the House Intelligence Committee show extensive text messages between indicted former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas and Derek Harvey, a top aide to top Committee Republican Rep. Devin Nunes.
The texts show that Parnas and Harvey spoke via Skype and met in person in 2019. The texts suggest that Parnas was looping Harvey into the Ukraine effort that led to President Trump’s impeachment.
In one of the texts, Harvey asks Parnas about documents he apparently turned over to The Hill’s John Solomon, who helped Giuliani spread false information smearing then-Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.
“Any documents for us or are you going to keep working through Solomon?” Harvey asked. Parnas said he would call Harvey and set up a meeting with him. Subsequent texts show that Parnas, GIuliani, and Harvey met at Trump’s hotel in Washington.
Texts show Nunes aide in on Biden effort:
One of the texts suggested that Harvey was fully aware of the effort to pressure Ukraine into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden.
“Also do you want to interview the general prosecutor who got [ditched] by Biden? Also the anti corruption prosecutor? Let me know,” Parnas wrote in April 2019.
“Does tomorrow work?” Harvey responded.
“The combined picture is a Nunes aide who was pretty abreast of what Giuliani and Parnas were up to — to the point where he was meeting with them and expressing frustration at not being the recipient of their information,” The Washington Post reported.
Texts corroborate Parnas’ claims:
The texts appear to corroborate Parnas’ claims to MSNBC last week that Nunes was involved in the Ukraine scheme.
Parnas told MSNBC that he was “in shock when I was watching the hearings and when I saw Devin Nunes sitting up there.”
"I texted my attorney. I said, 'I can't believe this is happening,'" he said.
Asked why he was surprised, Parnas said, "Because they were involved in getting all this stuff on Biden."
"[I]t's hard to see them lie like that... It's scary because, you know, he was sitting there and making all statements and all that when he knew very well that he knew what was going on,” he added. “He knew what's happening. He knows who I am."
Nunes previously claimed he did not recall speaking with Parnas even though phone logs showed multiple contacts between the two men. Ahead of Parnas’ interview, Nunes remembered the conversation in an interview with Fox News.
"It was very clear. I remember that call, which was very odd, random, talking about random things," Nunes said. "And I said great, just talk to my staff and boom, boom, boom. Which is normal, standard operating procedure."
