January 15 2020, 12:29 p.m.
THE MAN who relayed
information about Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch’s location to
Rudy Giuliani’s Ukrainian associates was a known stalker with mental
health issues.
Newly released private
WhatsApp messages between Lev
Parnas, an associate of Giuliani’s, and Robert F. Hyde, a donor to President
Donald Trump’s campaign and aspiring GOP lawmaker, reveal what appears to be an
effort to surveil the former ambassador to Ukraine, whose ouster was sought by
Giuliani as part of a plan to pressure the Ukrainian government into
pursuing political investigations at the White House’s behest.
The messages, released Tuesday
by the House Intelligence Committee relating to its ongoing impeachment
inquiry, show Hyde claiming to know Yovanovitch’s location and movements in
Kyiv, while implying that he was in contact with local security services in
Ukraine who could be paid to go after the ambassador.
The Intercept obtained police
records showing that Hyde violated a restraining order issued by
a Washington, D.C., Superior Court judge at the request of a Republican
consultant who says that Hyde stalked her and intimidated her family over the
last year. In one of the reports, an officer disclosed that Connecticut police
confiscated Hyde’s firearms in connection to his violation of the restraining
order. Hyde was reported to authorities for “unsettling behavior” and
trespassing at a church in Connecticut, according to a separate police report
last summer.
Asked for comment, Hyde
texted The Intercept, “Bull Schiff is still crying?! Lol. Tell him to go
whistleblow himself.” He did not respond to other allegations against him.
Hyde’s other acquaintances
noted that he has a history of erratic behavior. Jeffrey Peterson, a
technology entrepreneur, said Hyde came to meet with him recently, then
disappeared, only to resurface months later. Hyde, Peterson said, “has
been trying to reestablish contact with me ever since, not really comfortable
with him.”
Hyde publicized that he
was placed in a psychiatric facility in Florida last May, following
an incident at the Trump National Doral Miami resort. A
report written by the Doral Police Department at the time notes that
Hyde expressed fear for his life and told officers that he “was scared due
to several painting workers and landscape working trying to do harm to him
because they weren’t working.”
Hyde posted about his facility
stay in a now-deleted Instagram video. “I don’t know what that nine days was in
that facility, and they wanted to keep me 10 and I finally got out, but
here I am,” Hyde said in the video following his release. The caption for the
video and the police report reference confinement under Florida’s Baker Act,
which allows individuals showing signs of mental illness who could pose a
danger to themselves or others to be involuntarily submitted to a
mental health facility.
Shortly after his release, in
a now-deleted Facebook post, Hyde wondered if Dan Coats, Trump’s former
Director of National Intelligence, “effed with me in DC a month ago” and
“probably initiated my disappearance for awhile.”
Last year, Hyde began a
campaign for Congress, seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Rep.
Jahana Hayes, D-Conn. The former owner of a landscaping company, Hyde describes
himself as a “U.S. Marine Corps Iraqi Freedom war veteran” and “an ardent
support of our duly elected president, President Trump” on his campaign
website.
Hyde has other legal issues,
according to records, including an eviction from a commercial property in
Simsbury, Connecticut, where his former business was located. In 2011, Hyde was
arrested in Avon, Connecticut, for reckless endangerment in connection a
tree that fell on power lines near one of his work sites. He also owes more
than $2,000 in
child support payments, according to the Hartford Courant, despite
donating thousands of dollars to Trump and the Republican National Committee.
Hyde’s tone toward women has
also sparked a minor scandal in his political campaign. In December, after Sen.
Kamala Harris, D-Calif., suspended her presidential bid, Hyde tweeted that
Harris was “brought to her knees,” followed by the message: “Must be a hard one
to swallow. #KamalaHarris #heelsup.” The inflammatory message was swiftly
condemned by both parties. The Connecticut Republican Party returned Hyde’s
donation of $750 in response to his “vile comments on Twitter.”
In the newly released WhatsApp
messages, Hyde wrote to Parnas, “Wow. Can’t believe Trumo [sic] hasn’t fired
this bitch,” in reference to Yovanovitch.
Throughout 2018 and much of
early 2019, Parnas and his business partner, Igor Fruman, worked closely with
Giuliani to oust Yovanovitch, a career diplomat who was viewed as an
obstacle to a plot to use the Ukrainian government to investigate Trump’s
political adversaries, including former Vice President Joe Biden, his son
Hunter, and the Democratic National Committee.
As part of the effort, Parnas
and Fruman committed to raising $20,000 for
then-Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, in exchange for a letter from Sessions to the
State Department demanding Yovanovitch’s ouster.
The WhatsApp messages between
Hyde and Parnas reveal a new dimension to the continued focus of
Giuliani’s focus on Yovanovitch. “She under heavy protection outside
Kiev,” Hyde wrote to Parnas last March. In another batch of messages, Hyde
claimed, “That address I sent you checks out. It’s next to the embassy.” Other
Hyde messages conveyed an eerie level of knowledge about
Yovanovitch’s activities: “She’s talked to three people. Her phone is off.
Computer is off. She’s next to the embassy. Not in the embassy.
Private security. Been there since Thursday.”
Parnas’s lawyer, Joseph
A. Bondy, did not immediately respond to request from The Intercept. In a
statement to the Washington Post, he said, “There is no evidence that Mr.
Parnas participated, agreed, paid money or took any other steps in furtherance
of Mr. Hyde’s proposals.”
Hyde also sent several cryptic
messages that implied he knew of “security forces” in Ukraine who could be
tapped for assistance. “They are willing to help if we/you would like a price.
Guess you can do anything in Ukraine with money …” Parnas responded, “Lol.”
Whether Hyde truly had special
access to Yovanovitch remains unclear. The WhatsApp messages were
sent last March as the Giuliani-backed campaign to force Ukraine to
investigate the Bidens escalated. In April, Trump ordered Yovanovitch
to be recalled to Washington, and she was terminated from her post in early
May. In November, during the impeachment hearing, Yovanovitch testified
that she had been advised by
the State Department that she faced threats to her security last year.
Hyde’s various social
media profiles are filled with pictures of him with the president, Eric
Trump, Corey Lewandowski, Roger Stone, Sarah Sanders, and a variety
of Republican lawmakers. On multiple occasions, his photo has been snapped at
federal government offices and at Trump-owned properties in New Jersey,
Florida, and Washington, D.C. As CNN reported,
Hyde “posed for a selfie with Trump on Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019, the same
day Trump first called Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.”
Last year, Hyde texted
photos to Emilie Munson, a Connecticut-based
journalist, including images of himself smoking cigars with
Giuliani, Fruman, and Parnas.
I stand with @realDonaldTrump!
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