Lev Parnas was using Joseph Ahearn, America First Action’s director of development, to send things to Donald Trump Jr. to tweet about Ukraine. “Sent,” Ahearn wrote in March, per docs @politico has written about here: politico.com/news/2020/01/1…
In May, on the same day Parnas sent Ahearn a pic in a flak jacket, Parnas wrote: “It’s more important than ever to get a good ambassador that’s loyal to our president in there please make sure you pass on the message every ear more important than ever.”
“Yes,” Ahearn replied.
This batch of documents also contains messages between Parnas and Tommy Hicks Jr., cochair of the RNC.
Per Politico, these docs were "released late Tuesday night but not publicly noticed.”
I’m seeking clarity from the committee around this — seems odd for them to post all these docs and not tell anyone. politico.com/news/2020/01/1…
Parnas to Harry Sargeant III, a fellow Floridian businessman, on March 25, 2019:
“Team trump dinner celebration I’m officially part of team trump tomorrow big day my brother I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Appears to have sent a photo as well, but hard to see.
Sargeant was reportedly working with Parnas and Fruman "to install new management at the top of Ukraine’s massive state gas company. Their plan was to then steer lucrative contracts to companies controlled by Trump allies…”
"[T]he problem of foreign actors trying to influence the American electorate is not going away and, given the current partisan divides in this country, may find fertile ground in which to grow in the future.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley just tried to pass his bipartisan bill to update the Foreign Agents Registration Act by unanimous consent in the Senate, but Sen. Bob Menendez objected.
Menendez, the ranking member on the Foreign Relations Committee, said they need to study the issue more.
Grassley's been working for years on updating FARA to help the Department of Justice enforce the 1930s-era law, which hasn't been updated since the 1960s.
In a speech before he asked for UC, Grassley noted that the bill’s bipartisan cosponsors — Sens. Feinstein, Cornyn, Shaheen, Rubio, and Young — sit on the Foreign Affairs, Judiciary, and Intelligence Committees, all relevant to FARA.
Some personal news: A little while ago, I decided to begin the application process for a new US work visa. If all goes well, I’ll be able to work in the US again in a couple months.
So if you’re an editor looking to expand your team, please get in touch! My email is in my bio.
A little about me: I’ve covered national security, federal law enforcement, politics (including Congress), and more in the US. I’ve also covered Canadian governments and news.
I love scoops and doing original, investigative reporting. And I'm bilingual in French and English.
When I was laid off this summer, I lost my previous work visa and came back to Canada to figure out my next steps: either apply for a new visa to return to DC long-term or fly back to DC to pack my things and move back home. After a lot of thought, I chose the former.
It's official: the final version of the NDAA contains major reforms to the United States' anti-money laundering regime. Most notably, shell companies will be forced to disclose their true owners to Treasury -- a major gap in the regime that has been criticized for years.
Statements from @MarkWarner, @SenatorRounds, and @SenDougJones applauding the inclusion of their Illicit Cash Act -- the Senate version of the beneficial ownership legislation -- in the final NDAA:
Finally, I can share the project I worked on for nearly two years at @BuzzFeedNews:
The #FinCENFiles — 1000s of SARs & other docs — offer an unprecedented view of global financial corruption, the banks enabling it & the govt agencies that fail to stop it. buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonl…