Indicted Giuliani associates donated to Pete Sessions TX.
2020 Daily Trail Markers: Indicted Giuliani associates donated to Pete Sessions
BY CAITLIN CONANT
OCTOBER 10, 2019 / 6:31 PM / CBS NEWS
Former Texas U.S. Representative Pete Sessions could potentially find himself in the middle of the indictment of two Soviet-born businessmen linked with helping Rudy Giuliani investigate Joe and Hunter Biden.
The indictment refers to a "Congressman-1," and while it does not name or charge the individual, it does lay out references to donations and activities that align with Sessions' contact with the two indicted businessmen, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.
According to a now-deleted Facebook post by Parnas, then-Representative Sessions met with the two businessmen in May 2018.
The indictment alleges the two were lobbying Sessions to call for the dismissal of the United States ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch. Sessions wrote a private letter asking for the removal of Yovanovitch to Secretary Mike Pompeo that same month and said in a statement today that he wrote the letter "after several congressional colleagues reported to me that the current U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine was disparaging President Trump to others as part of those official duties."
In his statement, he said his May 2018 meeting was about the "need for Ukraine to become energy independent…There was no request in that meeting, and I took no action. Over time, I recall that there were a couple additional meetings. Again, at no time did I take any official action after these meetings."
CBS News Political Unit Broadcast Associate Aaron Navarro found FEC records showing $5,400 in donations from Parnas and Fruman for then Rep. Sessions' re-election campaign in June of 2018, months after the meeting with Parnas and Fruman. "The defendants concealed the scheme from the candidates, campaigns and federal regulators. Therefore, if I am 'Congressman One', I could not have had any knowledge of the scheme described in the indictment or have involvement or coordination of it," Sessions wrote.
Sessions launched an effort to reboot his Congressional career earlier this month for Texas' 17th congressional district, a seat that became open after Congressman Bill Flores announced his retirement. Sessions previously served more than 20 years in Texas' 32nd District in the Dallas area but was beaten by Democrat Colin Allred in 2018. Sessions did not reply to CBS News request for comment.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2020-da...-pete-sessions/
