Flame-throwing aide threatens Donald
Washington, Jan. 28: John Bolton has long been known as the bomb-thrower of US diplomacy, but the former White House national security advisor now threatens to blow a hole in President Donald Trump’s impeachment defence. Fired last September, Bolton’s coming tell-all book about his 17 months in the Trump administration could contain the strongest evidence yet for charges that the president illicitly held up military aid to Ukraine to help his own reelection campaign. A draft of “The Room Where it Happened”, scheduled for publication in March, reportedly says Trump told Bolton last August the money — almost $400 million — would remain frozen until Kiev announced an investigation into Trump’s potential election rival, Democrat Joe Biden.
That alleged “quid pro quo” is at the heart of the impeachment charge of abuse of power that has Trump on trial in the Senate, facing possible removal from office. Until The New York Times report Sunday of the book’s claim, Democrats had faced accusations that they had only indirect evidence of a link between Trump withholding support to Ukraine and pressing the US ally to announce a Biden probe. It had appeared certain that the Republican-dominated Senate would vote easily to acquit Trump. But the leak of the manuscript now challenges the senators to call Bolton to testify against the president — with unpredictable consequences. Faced with the prospect of a Bolton appearance, Trump has made his position clear. “I don’t know if we left on the best of terms,” he admitted candidly last week. “I would say probably not, you know. And so, you don’t like people testifying when they didn’t leave on good terms.” The diplomatic world has long been accustomed to Bolton’s incendiary presence and his trademark bushy moustache. An unabashed hawk, he served in the Justice and State Departments of three Republican administrations, starting with Ronald Reagan’s in the 1980s, before joining Trump as national security advisor in April 2018. In the 2000s he made his mark on the world stage as US ambassador to the United Nations, where he openly disdained the institution and unapologetically heralded US global projections of its power.