Messages released by the House committee between two associates of Trump’s lawyer imply that the US ambassador to Ukraine was being monitored

This article is more than 7 months old

This article is more than 7 months old

Former diplomats and congressional Democrats have responded with fury to revelations that associates of Donald Trump’s lawyer may have carried out surveillance on the US ambassador to Ukraine.

There was also considerable anger at the silence of the state department after the House intelligence committee released WhatsApp messages on Tuesday evening between the Florida businessman Lev Parnas and a Trump donor, Robert Hyde – who both have links to Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney and all-purpose fixer who has been a central figure in Trump’s impeachment.

In the texts, Hyde, who is a Republican congressional candidate in Connecticut, implies he was in touch with people in Ukraine who were monitoring the movements and communications of Marie Yovanovitch, the ambassador to Kyiv who Trump ordered removed from her post in April. He also hinted he could arrange for Yovanovitch to be removed for the right price.

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In March 2019, Hyde wrote to Parnas, “Wow. Can’t believe Trumo [sic] hasn’t fired this bitch. I’ll get right in [sic] that.”

The two men then exchanged a string of messages about the ambassador’s whereabouts.

“She under heavy protection outside Kiev,” Hyde wrote to Parnas, adding two days later: “They are moving her tomorrow.”

“The guys over there asked me what I would like to do and what is in it for them,” wrote Hyde, who has posted pictures of himself with Trump and Giuliani on social media. “She’s talked to three people. Her phone is off. Computer is off. She’s next to the embassy. Not in the embassy.”

“They are willing to help if you/we would like a price,” said Hyde.

“Guess you can do anything in Ukraine with money … what I was told,” Hyde wrote in another text, to which, Parnas responded: “LOL.”

John Herbst, who was ambassador to Kyiv before Yovanovitch, cautioned that it was not clear whether the implied surveillance actually happened or was an idle boast.

“If it’s real, it’s outrageous,” Herbst said. “Masha Yovanovitch is a real pro. She was used to being surveilled by the FSB [Russian intelligence], but if she’s being surveilled by a private American, that is truly dark side activity.”

On Wednesday, the chair of the Connecticut Republican Party called for Hyde to stand down as a candidate.

“I have asked Rob Hyde to end his bid for Congress. His campaign is a distraction for the Democrats to raise money and falsely label all Republicans with his antics. In my view he is not helping other Republican candidates or [President Trump] win,” JR Romano said in a tweet.

As of midday on Wednesday, the state department had yet to issue a statement on the new revelations, and canceled two briefings to Congress, one of them on diplomatic security.

“American diplomats should be supported,” Herbst said. “Senior management at state should be concerned about morale … management responsibility calls for a response.”

“A threat on a US ambassador ... would be treated with the utmost urgency if it came from a foreign person,” tweeted Dana Shell Smith, former ambassador to Qatar. “But [attorney general William] Barr hasn’t opened an investigation and [secretary of state] Pompeo, radio silence.”

Eliot Engel, the Democratic chair of the House foreign affairs committee issued a statement saying: “This unprecedented threat to our diplomats must be thoroughly investigated and, if warranted, prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Engel’s Senate counterpart, Bob Menendez put out a tweet demanding “immediate answers from the Trump [administration] on what they knew and what they’ve done since to ensure her safety.”

“This is not swagger, it’s thuggery,” Menendez said.

In a Facebook post, Hyde claimed the WhatsApp messages were a joke.

“I was never in Kiev,” he wrote. “For them to take some texts my buddy’s and I wrote back to some dweeb we were playing with that we met a few times while we had a few drinks is definitely laughable.”

Pictures Hyde had earlier sent to Hearst Connecticut Media showed him relaxing, smoking cigars and posing with Parnas and Giuliani apparently in a bar.

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The state department was due to brief congressional staffers from both parties on diplomatic security on Wednesday, but abruptly canceled on Tuesday afternoon.

The cancellation, first reported by Politico, came before the Parnas-Hyde texts were published, according to a congressional aide. The aide said the state department had given no reason for the decision and had not sought to reschedule the briefing.

“It’s outrageous that the [state department] cancelled the embassy security briefing, just as our diplomats are facing serious dangers,” Engel tweeted. “I want to see this briefing happen before the end of the week.”