The latest twist in the Ukraine story just came to light yesterday about Trump's attempted extortion of Ukraine. The article below, from the New York Times, mentioned a name that I had not seen before - Yuriy Lutsenko, a Ukrainian prosecutor who was helping Guiliani unearth damaging information about the Bidens. Lutsenko had had some clashes with out ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, and "wanted her done".
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/14/us/politics/trump-impeachment-articles.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
Lutsenko was not the only individual who was plotting to remove her from her position.
Heather Cox Richardson also had a story this morning that was even more damning, and she mentioned a guy who is running for congress from Connecticut. His name is Robert F Hyde, and I had never heard his name before this morning. He was responsible for putting Yovanovitch under surveillance, and he explored having her attacked or assassinated.
Her article from yesterday also contained a few other facts that caused my jaw to drop a bit.
Tonight, just on the cusp of the House articles of impeachment going over to the Senate, the House Intelligence Committee, the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and the Committee on Foreign Affairs transmitted to the House Judiciary Committee some of the material it has garnered from indicted political operative Lev Parnas’s phones. While there were two files—one is secret because it involves sensitive personal information—the other has provided material that is a game changer in three ways.
First of all, much of it is damning in its own right. Second, it will force Trump either to admit he was part of the Ukraine scheme all along or to call his friend (and sometime lawyer) Rudy Giuliani a liar. Third, it will add fuel to the fire that is making Trump so terribly angry and erratic these days, which will likely mean his behavior will only get worse. But with this new material in front of them, along with more that we have not seen, it is unlikely Republican leaders will be willing to continue to defend him except in the most general of ways.
There are also texts from Giuliani to Parnas, saying that he can overrule the decision of the Ukraine embassy, then under the direction of Marie Yovanovitch, not to give Viktor Shokin, the corrupt former Prosecutor General of Ukraine, a visa. He texted: “It’s going to work I have no 1 in it”
There is sharing of stories from Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, and Don Bongino about attacks on US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovich.
“Fuck that bitch,” Hyde wrote on March 22, 2019. (Yovanovitch was highly regarded, and one of our very top diplomats.)
The next day he texted: “Wow. Can’t believe Trumo [sic] hasn’t fired this bitch. I’ll get right in that”
Then: “She under heavy protection outside Kiev”
Unidentified [probably Lev Parnas]: “I know crazy shit”
Hyde: “My guy thinks maybe FSB..?” [FSB is Russian security]
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/
So ...
Who is Robert Hyde? Daily Beast provides the answer:
Hyde runs a Washington-based government relations firm, Finley Hyde & Associates, according to his LinkedIn account. The company’s website is decorated with pictures of Hyde and high-powered Republicans like Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Hyde’s firm claims to have handled “major public affairs projects in the U.S. and abroad” and worked for clients that included “foreign government allies of the U.S.”
In August, Hyde launched a bid against Rep. Jahana Hayes (D) in Connecticut’s 5th District. Hyde’s Twitter and Facebook accounts are filled with pictures of him and prominent Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Sen. Rand Paul (KY). Hyde has also taken pictures with Trump at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/who-is-robert-f-hyde-the-trump-donor-who-apparently-tracked-marie-yovanovitch