Trump impeachment: Report says Rudy Giuliani often spoke to Devin Nunes

A Congressional Report on December 3 indicated that US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, often spoke to Representative Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. The 300-page report based on telephone records showed that Nunes also contacted Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian-American businessman who was helping Giuliani and has been indicted and pleaded not guilty on charges of violating campaign finance law. Giuliani also contacted current and former Nunes staffers, the White House budget office, and a journalist who promoted conspiracy theories involving Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden and the 2016 US election as revealed through the telephone records. Nunes cited the same theories as he led the fight against impeaching Trump which makes Giuliani's numerous calls with Nunes and aides significant.

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When Nunes was asked by a channel if he talked to Parnas, he said that he might have done that but he himself hasn't gone through the phone records. The California lawmaker further said that he doesn't really recall the name of the businessman but now he remembers it as he is indicted.

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Nunes disputes claims by Parnas' lawyer

Many have raised their eyebrows over the recent revelations which include Bennett Gershman, a Pace Law School professor who specializes in government ethics, who told the media that the disclosures raised ethics questions with respect to Nunes. Gershman said that Nunes had a lot of explaining to do. On the other hand, a lawyer of Parnas has claimed that Republican Devin Nunes made a trip to meet with a former Ukrainian prosecutor to get dirt on Bidens. The lawyer, Joseph Bondy, said his client, Lev Parnas was told by a former Ukrainian prosecutor about a meeting with Nunes in Vienna in 2018 to discuss efforts to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden. Nunes denied the claim in a defamation lawsuit filed in federal court in Virginia against a media publication, which first published the assertions made by Bondy. The suit was filed on the very day the House Intelligence Committee issued a report on its impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

(With inputs from agencies)

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