A voice that appears to be that of President Donald Trump ordered aides to "get rid" of U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch after two now-indicted Rudy Giuliani associates told him she had been badmouthing him, according to an audio recording posted in part by ABC News.
The network said the recording appeared to include a discussion between Trump and Giuliani associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman at a small private dinner. Trump has denied knowing the pair and dismissed numerous pictures of them together as just photos taken at public events.
NBC News has heard the clips posted by ABC, but has not independently obtained or verified the recording.
Parnas's lawyer Joseph Bondy told told NBC News Friday that he located a version of the recording and turned it over the House Intelligence Committee after ABC reported on its existence. A spokesperson for the committee declined to comment.
Bondy told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow in an interview Friday night that the recording was made by Fruman.
"I hope they'll make it public," he said of the Intelligence Committee, which led the impeachment inquiry into Trump that centered on his dealings with Ukraine. "I think it's of critical importance that we hear the evidence. I think that's the best was we have to ensure our chances of having a fair trial, real trial if you will."
Trump denied knowing Parnas in an interview with Fox News earlier Friday.
Asked if he was relying on Parnas to get rid of Yovanovitch, Trump said, "No, no. I have a lot of people – he’s somebody I guess based on pictures I see goes to fundraisers but I'm not a fan of that ambassador," Trump said. "I want ambassadors that are chosen by me. I have a right to hire and fire ambassadors."
According to the clip posted by ABC, the voice that sounds like Trump apparently told aides at the April 2018 dinner at Trump International Hotel in Washington: "Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. OK? Do it."
Trump made the demand after a voice that sounds like Parnas' told the president that Yovanovitch was telling people that Trump was going to be impeached.
"The biggest problem there, I think where we need to start is we got to get rid of the ambassador," says the voice that sounds like Parnas. "She's basically walking around telling everybody 'Wait, he's gonna get impeached, just wait.'"
Yovanovitch was removed from her post, but not until a year later.
A copy of the recording is in the custody of federal prosecutors in New York, according to ABC.
The audiotape lines up with what Parnas himself told Maddow about the Trump dinner in an interview last week.
He said he was having dinner in a private area of the hotel with the president and some of his aides.
"I don't know how the issue is, the conversation came up, but I do remember me telling the president that the ambassador was badmouthing him and saying he was going to get impeached. Something to that effect," Parnas told Maddow.
"And at that point he turned around to John DeStefano, who was his aide at the time, and said, 'Fire her.' And we all, there was silence in the room," Parnas said.
He said DeStefano replied it couldn't happen at the time because Mike Pompeo had not yet been confirmed as secretary of state. "I don't know how many times at that dinner, once or twice or three times, but he fired her several times at that dinner," Parnas said, speaking of Trump.
"He even had a breakdown and screamed, 'fire her!'" to another assistant, Parnas claimed, and the assistant replied, "Mr. President, I can't do that."
Yovanovitch, who has been lauded for anti-corruption work, was targeted for removal in a campaign led by Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney.
The release of the audio comes as Democrats were outlining obstruction of Congress charges against the president in his Senate impeachment trial. Both Parnas and Fruman were ordered to turn over Ukraine-related documents to the House impeachment investigators, but refused.
Their lawyer at the time, former Trump lawyer John Dowd, cited various reasons for refusing to hand over documents, including that the pair "assisted Mr. Giuliani with his representation of President Trump."
Following his arrest, Parnas started cooperating with House investigators and turned over numerous documents text messages and emails.
