Impeachment trial: what does Trump fear most about Bolton’s new book? He has the ‘evidence’, Democrats say
- Donald Trump wanted aid to Ukraine frozen until it helped on probes of political rivals
- Statement was described in an unpublished manuscript by former White House national security adviser John Bolton
Senate Republicans are suddenly facing intense new pressure to call witnesses in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial after a new report that the president told his national security adviser in August he wanted to continuing freezing aid to Ukraine until the government there investigated a political rival.
The demand was outlined in a New York Times report Sunday evening citing an unpublished manuscript by John Bolton, who was fired as by the president in September.
Trump’s lawyers were to resume their defence of Trump when the Senate reconvenes Monday afternoon. By the end of the week, the Senate could be holding votes on whether to subpoena additional witnesses demanded by Democrats, including Bolton.
But if there is no witness testimony, the trial could end as early as Friday.
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“John Bolton has the evidence,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on Twitter. He urged at least “four Senate Republicans” to join Democrats in allowing for witnesses to appear before the trial.
Sarah Tinsley, a Bolton spokeswoman, declined to comment on the accuracy of the report regarding the ambassador’s manuscript.
“The ambassador transmitted a hard-copy draft of his manuscript to the White House for prepublication review by the National Security Council,” she said.
“The ambassador has not passed the manuscript to anyone else, only the NSC.”
Trump took to Twitter to dismiss Bolton’s claim as a way “to sell a book”.
“I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens,” Trump wrote. “In fact, he never complained about this at the time of his very public termination. If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book.”
House impeachment managers, led by Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, said that the Senate needs to call Bolton as a witness immediately.
“The president knows how devastating his testimony would be, and, according to the report, the White House has had a draft of his manuscript for review,” the managers said.
“President Trump’s cover-up must come to an end.”
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In the draft, Bolton described a first-hand conversation with Trump in August where he linked the Ukraine military aid freeze with his demand for a probe of the Bidens, the Times said. Bolton also wrote that several top cabinet officials had knowledge of Trump’s demands, including Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Attorney General William Barr, as well as acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, the newspaper added.
Bolton and Mulvaney are two of the four witnesses who Democrats have been demanding that the Senate vote to subpoena. Many Republicans have said they’re reluctant to call new witnesses, but several moderate senators have said they’re still undecided. It would take four Republican senators to vote with Democrats to call new witnesses.
Bolton is a key figure in Republican policy circles and also served under former president George W Bush.
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Trump on Wednesday told reporters in Davos, Switzerland, 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.”
Additional reporting by Associated Press and DPA
