Parnas Presses Court To Let Him Share Newly Available iPhone, Doc Evidence With Congress

Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas has asked a federal judge for permission to share newly available evidence in his case with congressional impeachment investigators.

Parnas has long sought to share evidence in his case with Congress. He and others have been charged with a conspiracy to funnel foreign money into American campaigns, but Parnas’ connection to Giuliani might mean that the information investigators recovered from him is relevant to the case against the President.

In a letter on Monday, Parnas’ lawyer Joseph Bondy said the government had finished processing “the complete extraction” of the iPhone Parnas was carrying when he and business partner Igor Fruman were arrested in October. The government was also prepared to produce documents seized from Parnas’ home, Bondy said.

“Review of these materials is essential to the Committee’s ability to corroborate the strength of Mr. Parnas’ potential testimony,” Bondy wrote.

Parnas helped Giuliani dig for dirt on Democrats in Ukraine, and with Giuliani’s effort to smear the American ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, whose ouster played a large role in the impeachment hearings.

In court earlier this month, prosecutors said they did not expect to object to Parnas’ request to share the evidence with House impeachment investigators. Judge Paul Oetken also said he would likely grant such a request.

Bondy wrote Monday that the government did not object to Parnas’ sharing the evidence “subject to receiving approval from the Court.”

Bondy noted that he did not know “whether we intend to produce the entirety of the materials, or a subset filtered for either privilege or relevancy.” If some materials were withheld, he said, the court and prosecutors would be notified.