FBI goes after Donald Trump’s latest goon Robert Hyde
Yesterday the House released text messages from Lev Parnas which appeared to show that Donald Trump’s associate Robert Hyde was trying to hire local goons in Ukraine to target U.S Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. Hyde is acknowledging on his Twitter account that the messages really were from him, but he’s insisting that it wasn’t a serious discussion. However, it looks like the FBI sees it differently.
The FBI visited the home and business of Robert Hyde on Thursday, according to CNN, which says that “FBI and Manhattan federal prosecutors are examining the role Hyde played regarding Yovanovitch.” This does not necessarily mean that Hyde is going to be arrested or charged with anything, but it does mean that the FBI is taking the whole thing seriously.
What stands out is that the Feds have had Lev Parnas’ phone, and therefore the text messages in question, since the day of his arrest. Lev was only able to release these messages this week because he finally got his phone back from prosecutors. It’s not clear if the Feds have been investigating Hyde all along and they’re now accelerating their timetable with him, or if they’re just now starting to investigate him because the messages went public.
Either way, this isn’t a good development for Robert Hyde, or for that matter Donald Trump. Hyde is running for Congress, but the Connecticut Republican Party just formally called for him to drop out. Hyde responded on Twitter by attacking the Chair of the Connecticut Republican Party.
