HYDE ON RADAR OF SECRET SERVICE
Feds: Candidate made ‘concerning posts,’ ‘veiled threats’ months before texts released
WASHINGTON — In June 2019, the U.S. Secret Service contacted Connecticut police about Robert Hyde, a candidate running for Congress who appears to have helped businessman Lev Parnas conduct surveillance of the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine in a plot to help the president.
The Secret Service alerted police in Avon that Hyde had made “concerning posts on his social media accounts” and they included “veiled threats,” a police record obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media show.
Other police reports show that Hyde, who is running for Congress in Connecticut’s 5th District, has often been in contact with law enforcement. Police in Florida in May 2019 brought Hyde to medical facility after he expressed fears that the Secret Service were after him.
In June, one day after the Secret Service called the Avon Police, Hyde turned over all his guns to cops in Simsbury, records show. Neither the Avon nor Simsbury incidents resulted in arrests. In 2011, Hyde was arrested on charges connected to his landscaping business.
The new text messages published by House Democrats Tuesday night are likely to bring further scrutiny by Congress and federal authorities to Hyde’s actions. The chilling texts raise more questions about the extent of Hyde’s connections with Parnas, his associate Igor Fruman and the president’s personal lawyer, which were first reported by Hearst Connecticut Media in November, after Hyde texted pictures of himself with the men to the reporter.
Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. Ambassador who was abruptly removed from her post in May 2019, has called for an investigation into whether Hyde and Parnas surveilled her. Lawmakers have called on the State Department to provide more information. House leaders
have so far refused to say whether they will subpoena Hyde or call him to testify.
It’s unclear the extent in which the Secret Service probed Hyde. Hyde was brought to their attention by a “concerned citizen,” the record states.
Hyde did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In May, police were called to the Trump Doral Miami resort because Hyde was “in distress fearing for his life,” a report obtained by Mother Jones states. Photos show that Hyde frequented Trump properties. He also has a property in Florida.
Hyde claimed "he was in fear for his life, was set up and that a hit man was out to get him."
"Mr. Hyde continued to act paranoid telling us not to stop next to certain vehicles…[H]e explained that he was scared due to several painting workers and landscape workers trying to do harm to him because they weren't working," the report read, according
to Mother Jones. "Additionally Mr. Hyde explained that his computer was being hacked by Secret Service. And then went on to further explain that the secret service [sic] was arrival [sic] on the premises watching him."
Hyde was brought to a medical facility under a state law that allows for involuntary confinement of people who might pose a risk to themselves.
Then on June 13, 2019, Hyde contacted police in Simsbury stating that the Connecticut State Police ordered him to turn over his firearms, according to police records obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media.
“Hyde turned over a Mossberg 12g shotgun, B&D 37 mm flare gun, Browning 12g shotgun, Remington .388 rifle, Stag .566 rifle, Remington .308 rifle and various rounds of ammunition,” the report states.
The weapons were confiscated as a result of a restraining order that Hyde violated in Washington, D.C.,
the Intercept reported. Hyde violated a restraining order issued by a Washington, DC superior court judge at the request of a Republican consultant who says that Hyde stalked her and intimidated her family over the last year, police records obtained by The Intercept show.
One week later, Simsbury police were dispatched to meet with Hyde again, a Simsbury police report states. Hyde had started to attend service at the church earlier in June and alleging was filming videos of himself in and around the church to use to benefit his political campaign and post on social media, the report said. The police were directed to ask him not to return to the church.
Now, documents released by House Democrats as part of their impeachment inquiry indicate that Hyde was involved in an effort to monitor the movements of former ambassador Yovanovitch, whom President Donald Trump wanted removed from her post.
“If you want her out, they need to make contact with security forces,” Hyde wrote to Parnas on March 26, 2019.
“They are willing to help if we/you would like a price,” Hyde wrote in one chilling message. “Guess you can do anything in the Ukraine with money... what I was told.”
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Hyde’s actions, if further substantiated, could lead to criminal charges.
“The texts raise profoundingly alarming questions about possible criminal conduct because they are threatening,” said Blumenthal, a former prosescutor. “They raise the specter of potential danger to her.”
Lev Parnas, a Ukrainianborn U.S. citizen, was indicted on campaign finance charges along with his associate Igor Fruman in October. Hyde has been photographed with both men.
Federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s offices in Manhattan and Connecticut declined to comment. The White House and State Department have not responded to requests for comment.
Hyde also has not yet ended his campaign for Congress despite multiple calls from Republican leaders for him to do so.
In 2011, Hyde was arrested by Avon Police for reckless endangerment after his landscaping company’s work resulted in a tree falling on power lines.
“We got a summons to go to court, but it was dropped,” Hyde said. “It was because my tree division dropped a tree across power lines. They gave us like an $1,000 ticket or something, but the insurance company paid for the repairs of the power lines.”
Hyde has also denied involvement in lawsuits brought against him, one by a property owner seeking to evict him and another by a boat marina for non-payment of fees.