House impeachment report accuses Trump of misconduct and obstruction
Armed with never-before-seen phone records, Democrats accused President Trump’s allies of coordinating with conservative journalist John Solomon to peddle “false narratives” about Trump’s opponents as part of his multi-pronged pressure campaign.
The House Intelligence Committee report says Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the panel, was linked to the effort.
The record, according to committee member Rep. Eric Swalwell, were subpoenaed from third-parties.
“Mr. Solomon was not working alone,” the report says, of Solomon’s articles throughout 2019 that spread Trump-backed conspiracies about Ukraine. “As further described below, there was a coordinated effort by associates of President Trump to push these false narratives publicly, as evidenced by public statements, phone records, and contractual agreements.”
About the phone records: They show a web of communications between Solomon, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, Ukrainian-American businessman Lev Parnas, Nunes, and the White House’s budget office. Many of these calls occurred in April, according to the Democratic report, the same time Solomon pumped out columns in The Hill filled with discredited conspiracy theories about former US Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and former Vice President Joe Biden, whose son was on the board of a prominent Ukrainian energy company.
The Democratic report identifies at least four phone calls or attempted calls between Parnas and Nunes, including one call on April 12 that lasted longer than eight minutes. Within that hour of that call, Parnas also spoke with Giuliani, who later connected with Trump’s attorney Jay Sekulow and a “White House phone number,” according to the phone records.
Why this matters: The call logs show the extent the Democratic investigators went to get hands on any evidence it could get, even as the administration blocked access to records. The records were not discussed publicly before the release of the report.
In addition, Parnas’ lawyer has said his client, who pleaded not guilty, was willing to turn over some documents to the committee and has turned over some materials already.

