Documents released Tuesday by Congress reveal a new participant in the scheme last spring by Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, associates of President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, to oust then-Ukrainian Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.
Among the documents are messages sent by Robert F. Hyde, 40, a Republican lobbyist and congressional candidate who was detained and taken into custody at the Trump National Doral in May last year. An incident report filed on May 16, 2019, by the Doral police department details how an officer was dispatched to the Trump property to handle a “male in distress fearing for his life.”
Hyde is one of five Republican candidates mounting a campaign for congressional office in Connecticut’s 5th District, a seat held by freshman Democrat Jahana Hayes, 46. His association with Parnas came to light this week in messages where Hyde, a vocal Trump supporter, railed against Yovanovitch, whom he appears to have had under surveillance. “Wow. Can’t believe Trumo hasn’t fired this bitch. I’ll get right in that.” Hyde wrote. He also mentioned that his contacts “are willing to help if we/you would like a price,” adding, “Guess you can do anything in Ukraine with money … what I was told,” he adds. Parnas’s attorney denied Wednesday that his client was involved in trying to oust Yovanovitch, who was eventually removed.
According to the police incident report, Hyde explained that “he was in fear for his life, was set up, and that a hit man was out to get him. Mr. Hyde spoke about emails he sent that may have placed his life in jeopardy. Mr. Hyde explained several times that he was paranoid that someone was out to get him.” Hyde listed “a variety of different names, contacts and provided information in reference to why he felt his life was in danger,” the report said.
Once in police custody, “Mr. Hyde continued to act paranoid, telling us not to stop next to certain vehicles … [He] explained that he was scared due to several painting workers and landscape workers trying to do harm to him because they weren’t working. Additionally, Mr. Hyde explained that his computer was being hacked by Secret Service,” whom he believed were “on the premises watching him.”
“It was determined that Mr. Hyde was suffering from a [redacted],” according to the report, filed under the Baker/Marchman Act, a crisis rule under Florida mental health and substance abuse laws that permits a person’s involuntary holding for up to 72 hours. Hyde was “transported to [redacted] for further evaluation,” and a “crisis form was filled and filed.”
Hyde made headlines in December after remarks he made about Sen. Kamala Harris’s exit from the presidential primary race were panned as vulgar and sexist. Hyde wrote in a tweet that Harris “went down, brought to her knees. Blew it. Must be a hard one to swallow. #KamalaHarris #heelsup.”
Hyde’s social media is a who’s who of Trump and Republican political insiders, featuring Vice President Mike Pence, Minority House Leader Kevin McCarthy, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, press secretary Sarah Sanders, and Sen. Rand Paul.
In 2018, Hyde was pictured in West Palm Beach with Trump megadonor Cheng Gao, a recent immigrant from China who lists his occupation as a “Buddhist artist” and who has given over $237,000 to Trump Victory, the joint fundraising committee for Trump’s presidential campaign and the RNC. Hyde sponsored Gao’s Mar-a-Lago membership in April 2019, per a tweet posted in November where the president can be seen shaking Gao’s hand.
Hyde, who runs a Washington-based government relations firm, Finley Hyde & Associates, has donated at least $2,000 to Trump’s reelection fund and $750 to the Connecticut Republican Party.
Hyde has a problematic financial and legal background.
He also owes more than $2,000 in child support to the mother of his 13-year-old son. Last year, Hyde was sued in small claims court for $3,907.39 in fees for a boat he kept in a Connecticut marina. The landlord of the building where Hyde’s former landscaping business was located moved to evict him in January 2019 over unpaid rent dating from February 2018. In 2011, he was arrested on second-degree reckless endangerment charges after a tree that he was hired to remove fell on a power line pole, breaking it in half.
