■ Former White House chief of staff Kelly: “I believe John Bolton.”
WASHINGTON — Former White House chief of staff John Kelly said at a lecture this week in Florida that he believes John Bolton, who alleges in an unreleased memoir that President Donald Trump told him that he was withholding military aid to Ukraine to force its government to announce an investigation into a political rival, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
“If John Bolton says that in the book, I believe John Bolton,” Kelly reportedly said at a lecture Monday in Sarasota. “Every single time I was with him, he always gave the president the unvarnished truth.
“I mean half of Americans think this process is purely political and shouldn’t be happening, but since it is happening, the majority of Americans would like to hear the whole story,” the retired general said.
“I think if there are people that could contribute to this, either innocence or guilt. I think they should be heard.”
Whether Trump called for a quid pro quo is the central question of the impeachment trial.
Senate Republicans largely have resisted Democrats’ calls for witnesses, and White House lawyers contend there is no one with direct knowledge of the allegation to call on the stand.
Bolton has ignored House Democrats’ pleas for testimony but has said he would comply with a subpoena from the Republicancontrolled Senate.
Trump has disputed Bolton’s assertion, tweeting this week that he “NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens.”
Trump’s defense team has hinted it would invoke executive privilege to block Bolton from testifying, which is unlikely to hold up in federal court if challenged.