The House Intelligence Committee has in its possession audio and video recordings and photographs provided by Lev Parnas, an associate of President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, ABC News reported, citing anonymous sources.
The material, which committees reportedly began accessing last week, is said to contain audio and video recordings as well as photos that include Giuliani and Trump.
The tapes were reportedly provided to the committee as part of a congressional subpoena issued to Parnas, and were said to have accompanied a number of documents in English and Ukrainian, in two separate productions, reported ABC News.
It was added that some of the material sought by congressional investigators is already in possession of federal investigators with the Southern District of New York. In October, Parnas and Fruman were arrested at the Dulles International Airport and charged in connection with an illegal campaign finance case in the Southern District of New York.
The two men pleaded not guilty to charges of allegedly circumventing campaign finance laws.
Sources cited by the outlet claimed these circumstances were holding up the transfer of the material.
Top targets in impeachment inquiry
Earlier, on Sunday, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff was quoted by CNN as saying:
"We have subpoenaed Mr. Parnas and Mr. [Igor] Fruman for their records. We would like them to fully comply with those subpoenas.”
Joseph A. Bondy, an attorney for Lev Parnas, reiterated a statement released previously on Sunday:
“Mr. Parnas has vociferously and publicly asserted his wish to comply with his previously issued subpoena and to provide the House Intelligence Committee with truthful and important information that is in furtherance of justice, not to obstruct it."
The statement continues:
“His evidence and potential testimony is non-partisan, and not intended to be part of a battle between the left and the right, but rather an aid in the determination by our government of what is in the best interests of our nation.”
Lev Parnas' associate, Igor Fruman has reportedly not cooperated with the committee.
Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and his associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman have been among the people of interest targeted by House Democrats in their Trump impeachment inquiry, as several witnesses who testified in hearings spoke of a “shadow campaign” reportedly being waged by Giuliani to oust former US Envoy to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. The latter’s anti-corruption stance would have impeded efforts to convince Ukraine to launch an investigation into Biden, they claimed.
Parnas, a Ukraine-born American businessman, was subpoenaed last month by House committees at the same time as Belarus-born Igor Fruman F.
Previously, both announced through their attorney at the time that they would not be complying with the subpoena.
Trump impeachment case
House aides are currently working on a report detailing the results of the eight-week probe into Donald Trump that will outline the case for the president's impeachment.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff has said that the investigation into Trump will continue even after the publication of the report, as he refused to rule out further depositions or public hearings in the impeachment case.
"We don't foreclose the possibility of more depositions, more hearings. We are in the process of getting more documents all the time. So that investigative work is being done", he said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.
However, Schiff added that the committee has not yet made a decision on what articles of impeachment it may draft.
In September, House Democrats initiated an impeachment probe after a whistleblower alleged that Donald Trump had abused the power of his office by pressuring Ukraine’s President Volodymir Zelensky in a 25 July phone conversation to investigate the Bidens, claiming that the US president withheld nearly $400 million in military aid - a charge Republicans deny.
Trump declassified what the White House claimed was the full, transcript of his telephone call with Zelensky, as he denied any wrongdoing in his dealings with Ukraine.
Trump also slammed the impeachment inquiry as a political "witch hunt" by Democrats seeking to reverse the outcome of the 2016 US presidential election.