Thread by @weareoversight

NEW Ukraine Documents: Tonight, less than a day before the Senate impeachment vote, the Department of Energy released 41 more pages of Ukraine-related records to American Oversight in response to our FOIA lawsuit. We'll be posting updates here: americanoversight.org/energy-departm…

This production contains emails between senior aides to former Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Michael Bleyzer, a Ukrainian-American investor and longtime Perry supporter, who was pursuing energy projects in Ukraine at the time. americanoversight.org/energy-departm…

The emails show extensive contacts between Bleyzer and top DOE officials in early 2019 as Bleyzer and a business partner were in the process of attempting to win oil and gas exploration rights in Ukraine — which they ultimately secured in July.

In a May 18, 2019, email exchange with Samuel Buchan, an international affairs adviser to Perry, Bleyzer references a WhatsApp message he sent to Buchan and indicates that he was working “on the ground” to set up meetings in Kyiv. americanoversight.org/energy-departm…

Bleyzer was in communication with Perry’s former chief of staff, Brian McCormack, as far back as the summer of 2017.

The records include emails referencing a July 22 call to “connect … about a few items.”

According to the documents, McCormack and Bleyzer were still in touch in December 2018, when Bleyzer sent a message to what appears to be McCormack’s personal email account.

"As the Senate prepares to vote to acquit, the public still knows almost nothing about the role of the so-called ‘third amigo,’ Secretary Rick Perry."
See our statement from @AREvers and read the new DOE documents here:
americanoversight.org/energy-departm…

@AREvers The paper trail is going to continue to come out — and the public will get the truth.

We have five more Ukraine-related document production deadlines in the coming weeks. Next will be the State Department on 2/10.

Track our whole investigation here: americanoversight.org/investigation/…