It appears there's another documented quid pro quo tied to President Trump's efforts to procure from
Ukraine some sort of damaging information about potential 2020
Democratic rival
Joe Biden — or at least make it appear such evidence might exist. In a cache of documents released late Tuesday by House impeachment investigators, Ukraine's top prosecutor offered to hand Biden-linked information over to Trump's personal lawyer
Rudy Giuliani if Trump pushed out U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.The documents are from Lev Parnas, a Russian-speaking Giuliani associate who helped Giuliani's Biden dirt-digging efforts in Ukraine. In handwritten notes on Ritz Carlton Vienna stationary, Parnas mentioned getting Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky "to annouce [sic] that the Biden case will be investigated," and it appears Yuri Lutsenko, the prosecutor general at the time, was ready to play ball."Lutsenko wanted to get rid of Yovanovitch," The
Washington Post explains, "in part because she had been critical of his office and supported a quasi-independent anti-corruption bureau he despised.""If you don’t make a decision about Madam — you are bringing into question all my allegations. Including about B," Lutsenko wrote Parnas in a March 2019 text message translated from Russian. "Madam" is a reference to Yovanovitch and "B" means either Biden or Burisma, the Ukrainian gas company that hired Hunter Biden. After Parnas told Lutsenko a few days later that "soon everything will turn around and we'll be on the right course," Lutsenko texted he had "testimony about transfers to B" and "copies of payments from Burisma to Senaca," referring to a consulting firm founded by Hunter Biden and fellow Burisma board member Devon Archer.Lutsenko also complained that Parnas "can't get even get rid of" an unidentified female "fool," to which Parnas replied that she is "not a simple fool" and "she's not getting away." Yovanovitch was abruptly pulled from her job in April 2019 after a smear campaign pursued by Giuliani. Zelensky replaced Lutsenko in late August.More stories from theweek.com Ken Jennings is officially Jeopardy!'s Greatest of All Time Bernie Sanders wordlessly disagreed with Amy Klobuchar's climate plan Every top 2020 Democrat is backing big changes to child care in the U.S.