Leaked Bolton book threatens to upend trial
Pressure grows on Republican senators to allow testimony from him and others
WASHINGTON — Sensational revelations from President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser threatened to upend the Senate impeachment trial Monday, increasing the chances that senators would vote to allow witnesses in a perilous development for the White House.
Inside the Senate chamber as the trial entered its second week, Trump’s lawyers pushed forward with their defense of the president, largely ignoring the uproar caused by leaked details from a book by former national security adviser John Bolton. As part of their defense, they pivoted into a sharp line of attack on former Vice President Joe Biden
and his son Hunter over their involvement in Ukraine.
But outside the chamber, GOP senators caught unaware by the Bolton news grappled with divisions in their ranks and fresh calls from a small group of moderates who want to hear from Bolton before the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history comes to a close.
Details that became public Sunday from Bolton’s unpublished book manuscript suggest that he could provide direct evidence that Trump sought to deny security assistance to Ukraine until Kyiv announced investigations into political opponents, including the Bidens. That linkage is at the heart of House Democrats’ case that Trump abused his power in holding up the Ukraine aid for his personal political benefit and then obstructed Congress’s subsequent investigation.
“I think it’s increasingly likely that other Republicans will join those of us who think we should hear from John Bolton,” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said Monday, repeatedly calling Bolton’s testimony “relevant.” “It’s important to be able to hear from John Bolton, for us to be able to make an impartial judgment.”
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, another key moderate, said the reports about Bolton’s unpublished manuscript “strengthen the case for witnesses and have prompted a number of conversations among my colleagues.” At least four Republicans would have to join with all Democrats for a vote to call witnesses to succeed, an outcome Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has sought to avoid because of the potential for the trial to devolve into a drawn-out mess.
Trump himself has vehemently denied political motivation in stalling the Ukraine aid. He has insisted that he never told Bolton that he was holding up the nearly $400 million in aid to force Kyiv to announce political investigations, suggesting that if Bolton said otherwise, it was only to sell books.
Trump’s attorneys devoted some of their floor time Monday to arguing that Trump acted appropriately in delaying the security aid, and that he did so because of his concerns about corruption in Ukraine and whether other nations were doing their fair share in providing security support for Ukraine.
The president’s defense team referenced the Bolton news obliquely shortly after the impeachment trial opened at 1 p.m.
“We deal with transcript evidence, we deal with publicly available information,” said Trump attorney Jay Sekulow. “We do not deal with speculation, allegations that are not based on evidentiary standards at all.” A senior administration o∞cial, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy, confirmed that Sekulow’s comments were a reference to the Bolton news.
Hours later, as constitutional law professor Alan Dershowitz delivered the final arguments of the day, he briefly referenced the Bolton news as he argued that the charges against Trump do not constitute impeachable o≠enses. “Nothing in the Bolton revelations, even if true, would rise to the level of an abuse of power or an impeachable o≠ense,” he said.
However the question of witnesses is resolved, there remains little doubt that Trump will be acquitted in the end. Although it would take only a simple majority vote to call witnesses, a two-thirds vote is required for conviction.