Politics

Pete Sessions Is Reportedly Subpoenaed In Giuliani Probe

REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
Font Size:

A federal grand jury in Manhattan has reportedly subpoenaed Pete Sessions, a former Texas lawmaker referred to as “Congressman-1” in an indictment last week against two Rudy Giuliani associates.

The subpoena, which The Wall Street Journal first reported, seeks records related to Giuliani and his two associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who federal prosecutors indicted on campaign finance charges.

A spokesman for Sessions told the Daily Caller News Foundation that Sessions is “cooperating” with prosecutors “and will be providing documents to their office related to this matter over the next couple of weeks as requested.”

The Journal and New York Times have reported that prosecutors in New York are investigating Giuliani for his Ukraine-related work with Parnas and Fruman. One focus of the probe is whether the Trump lawyer acted illegally as an agent for Ukrainians, specifically in a campaign to remove Marie Yovanovitch as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. (RELATED: Giuliani Associates Arrested On Campaign Finance Charges)

The indictment unsealed on Oct. 10 alleges that Parnas and Fruman “conspired to circumvent the federal laws against foreign influence by engaging in a scheme to funnel foreign money to candidates for federal and State office so that the defendants could buy potential influence with candidates, campaigns, and the candidates’ government.”

U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has coffee with Ukrainian-American businessman Lev Parnas at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, U.S. Sept. 20, 2019. REUTERS/Aram Roston

Prosecutors also allege that Parnas met with Sessions on May 9, 2018 to seek his assistance “in causing the U.S. government to remove or recall the then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine.”

“PARNAS’s efforts to remove the Ambassador were conducted, at least in part, at the request of one or more Ukrainian government officials,” reads the indictment, which does not accuse Sessions of wrongdoing.

On the same day as his meeting with Parnas, Sessions sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleging that Yovanovitch had spoken negatively about President Donald Trump.

Parnas contributed $2,700 to Sessions’ campaign on June 25, 2018. He and Fruman also pledged to raise another $20,000 for the Republican, according to the indictment.

Sessions’ letter to Pompeo was cited in reports earlier this year that raised questions about Yovanovitch. The Trump administration recalled her from her post in May, several months before her term was scheduled to end.

Yovanovitch testified to Congress on Oct. 11 that she was the victim of a “concerted effort” involving Giuliani and a small group of former Ukrainian prosecutors who wanted her removed from office.

Sessions acknowledged last week that he and Parnas discussed Yovanovitch, but that he did not send the letter to Pompeo at Parnas’ behest.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel