Kiev is probing Trump’s pals in envoy-spying rap
Ukrainian authorities opened a criminal investigation Thursday into revelations that associates of President Trump and Rudy Giuliani may have illegally spied on Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who provided explosive testimony in the House impeachment inquiry.
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said in a statement that the country typically stays out of American “domestic affairs,” but that it “cannot ignore” the potential “illegal activities” on display in a cache of recently unearthed text messages between ex-Giuliani pal Lev Parnas and Robert Hyde, a Trump-boosting congressional candidate in Connecticut.
“Our goal is to investigate whether there actually was a violation of Ukrainian and international law, which could be the subject for proper reaction,” the ministry said. “Or whether it is just a bravado and a fake information in the informal conversation between two U.S. citizens.”
Hyde, who has been pictured on numerous occasions with Trump and his family members, suggested in a series of texts to Parnas in March that he had “contacts” in Kiev keeping close surveillance on Yovanovitch’s every move.
In one ominous message, Hyde said his Ukrainian contacts could “help” to take “out” the American ambassador for the right “price.”
Giuliani, Parnas and other right-wing figures were at the time mounting a smear campaign against Yovanovitch after she had spoken out against Trump’s shady push for Ukrainian investigations of Joe Biden and other Democrats.
Acting on that baseless smear, Trump removed Yovanovitch from her Ukraine post in April. She called the abrupt ouster “very painful” in testimony before House impeachment investigators last year.
As part of its freshly opened investigation, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said it was expecting the FBI to turn over all records about “persons who may be involved in a possible criminal offense” relating to the apparent Yovanovitch surveillance plot.
An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment. The U.S. Justice and State departments did not return requests for comment.
Both departments have kept mum since the House Intelligence Committee released the disturbing texts about Yovanovitch on Tuesday.