Before their publicized falling out President Donald Trump, [left], shakes hands with national security adviser John Bolton, [right], who appears to have dug a deeper hole for his former boss with explosive claims in his upcoming memoir
I’m ‘prepared to testify’ in Senate impeachment trial if subpoenaed: A devastating new report on former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s unpublished manuscript gives a first-hand account of the links between a military aide freeze to Ukraine and investigations into Trump’s political rivals. The former security czar is willing to tell all to the Senate
Presidential Denial: “I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens“
“If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book,” Donald Trump tweeted early Monday.
Arguing both sides of the case before daylight, Trump was back on social media around 7 am making the dubious claim that Bolton shouldn’t be called to testify at Trump’s impeachment trial because the House of Representatives could have sought to force his testimony in their inquiry last year.
Ironically, the White House had fought strenuously to deter all witnesses from appearing before the House Committee with threats and direct orders.
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Trump adds that the Democrat controlled House never even asked John Bolton to testify. It is up to them, not up to the Senate
John Bolton who reportedly called the activities of the Trump team in Ukraine a ‘drug deal’, acrimoniously left the White House a day before Trump ultimately released the Ukraine aid on Sept. 11. He was opposed to the aid-for-probe push
The scoop will pile massive new pressure on Republican senators to drop their opposition to Bolton being called as a witness. That could upend their plans for a quickie acquittal of Trump sometime this week and might lead to more damaging evidence surfacing.
“It completely blasts another hole in the president’s defense,” Rep. Adam Schiff said. “How you can explain that you wanted a search for the truth in this trial and say you don’t want to hear from a witness who had a direct conversation about the central allegation in the articles of impeachment?”
‘Not mine, Yours’: While the defense fights the house impeachment managers request for witnesses at the Senate impeachment trial, Trump has said he wants the Bidens to be called to testify in the Senate trial. Democrats insistent it’s ‘irrelevant’ to the case, because the president is the one on trial
The impeachment case against Trump includes accusations that the president abused executive power in withholding Congress approved military assistance to Ukraine to coerce the incoming administration to aid his re-election campaign by mounting investigations into Democrats, including presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden [right] and his son Hunter [left]
Bolton’s revelations challenge the defense offered up by Trump and his attorneys in his Senate impeachment trial and raises the stakes as the chamber decided this week whether to seek sworn testimony from Bolton and other witnesses.
Depending on the account Bolton resigned his post or was fired from the White House a day before Trump ultimately released the Ukraine aid on September 11.
He has already told lawmakers that he is willing to testify, despite the president’s order barring aides from cooperating in the probe.
Trump’s lawyers entered their first full day of his impeachment defense on Saturday. The defense plans to wrap up on Tuesday followed by Senate questions. Part of the GOP strategy is based on quashing Democratic demands for witnesses like John Bolton and Acting White House Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney and move for a Trump acquittal.
That timetable could be thrown into turmoil by Bolton’s explosive account, which may force Republicans senators to accept that he should be subpoenaed to testify.
Bolton is by far the most senior aide to Trump to claim direct knowledge of an improper trade off in the Ukraine scheme.
In a highly embarrassing gaffe, Mulvaney publicly admitted to the quid pro quo at a botched press conference but later backtracked in brazen fashion after trump reportedly scolded him for the slip up.
Republicans fear that Bolton’s testimony may open the door to demands for Mulvaney and other witnesses to come forward and say what they know under oath.
Bolton’s book reveals unflattering details about the roles of Mulvaney and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the scandal, which could prompt demands for their testimony.
It remains unclear how Bolton’s manuscript became public. He submitted the bombshell document to the White House for routine vetting after Christmas last year. That could explain why Trump’s defenders ramped up their opposition to any witnesses at the Senate trial around the same time.
Trump’s defense team in the Senate impeachment trial, Jay Sekulow [left] and White House Counsel Pat Cipollone [right], began their case for his acquittal on Saturday. They are continuing Monday, expected to make a case against witnesses being called for the trial
Further denying the sourcing of the pre-publication leak, Bolton’s attorney Charles J. Cooper said in a statement that the pre-publication review process had been ‘corrupted and that information has been disclosed by persons other than those properly involved in reviewing the manuscript.’
Democrats accuse Trump of abuse of power in withholding the military assistance to Ukraine to push that country to launch investigations into Democrats, including former presidential candidate, Vice President Joe Biden as well as his son Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukraine gas company, Burisma, while his father was in office.
On Saturday, the president’s attorneys said during their opening day of defense arguments that there was no evidence that Trump made the military aid contingent on the country announcing an investigation into Biden.
Bolton reportedly told Attorney General William Barr that he was mentioned by Trump on his July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
While the report by NY Times potentially opens the door for the Democrats to call witnesses, digging in Republicans and the defense team warn, however, that if new witnesses are permitted, they may call individuals Democrats don’t want to testify, including former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
Trump has even pushed for the still-anonymous whistle-blower, whose second-hand report of the call led to the launch of the impeachment inquiry, to be subpoenaed.
The House impeachment managers seen [photo], being lead out by Adam Schiff to the Senate to hear Trump’s defense team, have asked for material witnesses including John Bolton and Mike Mulvaney
Speaking to reporters in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday, Trump himself reiterated that he didn’t want Bolton to testify before the Senate.
‘The problem with John is it’s a national security problem,’ Trump said. ‘He knows some of my thoughts. He knows what I think about leaders. What happens if he reveals what I think about a certain leader and it’s not very positive and then I have to deal on behalf of the country?’
He added: ‘It’s going to be very hard. It’s going to make the job very hard.’
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