1/ Parnas’ attorney is correct that the phone records between Parnas, Giuliani, and Nunes on their face suggest the three were working together to push for dirt in Ukraine.
But phone records have obvious limitations and what they really show is that more investigation is needed.
But phone records have obvious limitations and what they really show is that more investigation is needed.
2/ I used phone records like these in many criminal investigations, and often made the same point Parnas’ attorney did during closing arguments at trial.
Obviously three people who appear to be co-conspirators aren’t calling each other just to discuss the weather.
Obviously three people who appear to be co-conspirators aren’t calling each other just to discuss the weather.
3/ What the records show is connections and coordination between people.
Here, on their face, the records matter because they show that House Intel Ranking Member Nunes was in the thick of the matter he was supposedly investigating. He should have been a witness.
Here, on their face, the records matter because they show that House Intel Ranking Member Nunes was in the thick of the matter he was supposedly investigating. He should have been a witness.
4/ But the records don’t tell us who was said on the call. (There wasn’t a wiretap that we know of.)
Technically speaking, the records don’t even tell us who was on the phone. (Yes, criminal defendants I prosecuted sometimes argued that someone else was using their phone.)
Technically speaking, the records don’t even tell us who was on the phone. (Yes, criminal defendants I prosecuted sometimes argued that someone else was using their phone.)
5/ In a criminal investigation, Parnas, Giuliani, and Nunes would be subpoenaed unless they were targets of the investigation. They could all take the Fifth but otherwise they would answer questions about those phone calls.
6/ If the phone records were used to prove something, they would be used in conjunction with a lot of other evidence.
That can be done here to show that Nunes and Parnas were involved in Giuliani’s Ukraine scheme. But to show more than that, more investigation is needed.
That can be done here to show that Nunes and Parnas were involved in Giuliani’s Ukraine scheme. But to show more than that, more investigation is needed.
7/ As a practical matter, that likely won’t happen here. So what these records highlight to me is how little we really know about what happened. It feels like the impeachment inquiry revealed a small slice of a larger scheme that we will never know the full truth about. /end
