Is There a Sale on Exclamation Points Somewhere? Because I May Run Out

So, the Democrats have releases some of Lev Parnas' documents and the results can only be called stunning.

The big reveals:

It is clear from Parnas' hand scrawlings on hotel stationery that the goal was to get dirt on Biden, particularly a public announcement of the investigation, and nothing else.  That fits in the category of shocking but not surprising.  We all knew that.

Also shocking but not surprising is Rudy Giuliani's May 10, 2019 letter to President-Elect Zelensky:

The first paragraph, emphasizing that Giuliani is Trump's private lawyer, not acting in an official capacity is not wrong, exactly.  It properly points out that these things are different.  And there is nothing wrong with the President having a private lawyer, especially when he is under investigation.  But it is altogether wrong for the President's private lawyer to be involved in policy making.  This blurs the exact distinction that the first paragraph makes.  The second paragraph is a conventional expression of courtesy and basically meaningless.  The third paragraph is the real meat of the matter, saying that he has something to discuss that is not fit to put in writing.  Again, we all knew that.

What is new are the revelations about Ambassador Marie Yovanovich.  During the impeachment hearings, Yovanovich was the only witness other than Gordon Sondland to testify alone.  This presumably meant someone found her testimony to be important although I found it to be among the least significant because Yovanovich did not actually witness any of the relevant events.  It would appear I was wrong.  Also wrong was the widespread assumption that Giuliani was behind the drive to fire Yovanovich.  It appears the initiative lay with Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko, who texted,

“it’s just that if you don’t make a decision about Madam [Yovanovitch], you’re placing into doubt all of my statements. Including about B.”  There we have the very embodiment of a corrupt quid pro quo -- fire an ambassador who is putting too much pressure on my and I will give you dirt on your rival. 

Nothing came of that particular deal.  Yovanovich was fired and Zelensky elected at about the same time, and Zelensky replaced Lutsenko as Prosecutor General.  And Lusenko never did give any dirt on the Bidens.  Still, this revelation counts as both shocking and surprising.

But the most shocking revelation of all also deals with Yovanovich and is surprising, but not quite as surprising as one  might wish.  It appears that Robert Hyde, a Republican candidate from Connecticut was surveilling and stalking Yovanovich -- or worse.  Hyde claims that he was joking and has never been to Kiev.  Since that last is easily checked, presumably it is true.  But his texts sound deadly serious.  And it is possible that he hired some goons in Kiev to do the stalking for him and was passing on news of their reports to Parnas.  (Parnas would not have access to Hyde's communications with these hypothetical goons).  Hyde is apparently paranoid, to the point that he was involuntarily committed for nine days.  He also stalked as staffer and had a restraining order entered and his guns (6 guns, 800 rounds of ammunition) confiscated.  This records can go either way on his likelihood of stalking Yovanovich.

The mainstream press is to square to accuse him of anything worse than "surveillance" or "stalking."  Some of his texts suggest -- something a whole lot worse.

She under heavy protection outside Kiev.
My guy thinks maybe FSB [the Russian security service]
The guys over asked me what I would like to do and what is in it for them
She’s talked to three people. Her phone is off. Computer is off.
She’s next to the embassy.
They know she’s a political puppet.
They will let me know when she’s on the move
They are willing to help if you/we would like a price.
Guess you can do anything in the Ukraine with money… what I was told.
Update she will not be moved special security unit upgraded force on the compound people are already aware of the situation my contacts are asking what is the next step because they cannot keep going to check people will start to ask questions

If you want her out, they need to make contact with security forces

Hey brother do we stand down??? Or you still need intel be safe
She had visitors
Its confirmed we have a person inside
Hey broski what are we doing tell me what's the next step

Look, I'm trying not to be paranoid here.  I've been paranoid about this crows before, read the worst possible interpretation into everything they do and frequently found I had gone way too far and it was really much less than it appears.  So I am going to do my best to give these guys the benefit of the doubt.  I suppose all of this could just be about spying on her.  Or maybe digging for dirt on her.  But it sure sounds like a physical threat of some kind.

And what suggests these aren't just the fantasies of some big talker is her testimony at the hearing:

Around 1 o'clock in -- in the morning, she called me again and she said that there were great concerns. There were concerns up the street and she said I needed to get on the -- home -- come home immediately. Get on the next plane to the U.S.

And I asked her why. And she said she wasn't sure, but there were concerns about my security. I asked her, my physical security, because sometimes Washington knows more than we do about these things.

And she said, no, she hadn't gotten that impression that it was a physical security issue. But they were concerned about my security and I needed to come home right away.

Clearly Yovanovich was not aware of any physical danger, and did not mention being threatened with anything worse than firing by tweet.   Hyde's texts says, "[P]eople are already aware of the situation" and refer to upgraded security.  It seems likely that embassy security knew there was some sort of stalking but did not know the stalkers' intentions.

Some people have even made much of Trump's statement on the July 25 phone call that "Well, she's going to go through some things."  I really don't believe that was a threat, though.  Yovanovich was back in the US by then, teaching at Georgetown University, with no sort of threat in sight.

Still, the whole thing is really, really shocking, even if it is less surprising than it should be.  It does not rise to the level of shooting someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue.  But for the first time, I am beginning to think that wasn't just hyperbole.