WASHINGTON — A close associate of President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has provided a trove of text messages and photos to the House committee leading the impeachment inquiry.
Joseph Bondy, the lawyer for Lev Parnas, tweeted Monday that they had “worked through the night” to provide data from two of his client’s smartphones to the House Intelligence Committee. The Democrat-led committee subpoenaed Parnas for documents on Oct. 10, the day after news broke that he and business partner Igor Fruman had been arrested by federal authorities while trying to board a one-way flight to Europe.
Though the House voted to impeach Trump in December, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff has pressed ahead with efforts to gather more information and documents in advance of the president’s upcoming Senate trial.
Parnas was deeply involved in efforts by Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, to press Ukraine’s leaders to open an investigation into Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Trump’s withholding of U.S. military aide to the war-torn country is at the heart of the two impeachment articles approved by the House without any Republican votes.