Month: January 2020
House Democrat says John Bolton told him in September to 'look into' Marie Yovanovitch's ouster
Shortly before the Senate's impeachment trial resumes, another John Bolton revelation has arrived. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, revealed in a statement Wednesday that he spoke with Bolton, President Trump's former national security adviser, after his White House firing in September. In this conversation that occurred at Engel's request just one day before the impeachment inquiry was announced, Bolton evidently urged the committee to look into the ouster of Marie Yovanovitch, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. "On that call, Ambassador Bolton suggested to me — unprompted — that the committee look into the recall of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch," Engel said. "He strongly implied that something improper had occurred around her removal as our top diplomat in Kyiv." > BREAKING: Rep. ENGEL reveals that BOLTON called him in September and told him to look into the Marie Yovanovitch ouster.> > The committees had already started an investigation into Ukraine matters, but Bolton appears to have supported their effort. >>> pic.twitter.com/a54uwGKkaL> > — Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 29, 2020Yovanovitch was removed as ambassador to Ukraine in May 2019, and she testified in the impeachment inquiry her ouster was a result of a smear campaign backed by Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.This latest Bolton revelation comes after The New York Times reported on Sunday that the former national security writes in his upcoming book that Trump tied aid to Ukraine to investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son. Democrats want Bolton to be called to testify as part of the impeachment trial, and in his statement, Engel says he told his colleagues about this conversation and it "was one of the reasons we wished to hear from Ambassador Bolton, under oath, in a formal setting." More stories from theweek.com Did John Bolton actually do Trump a favor? The 3 kinds of Republicans that Bolton's testimony would reveal It's 2020 and women are exhausted
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White House reportedly issues ‘formal threat’ to block John Bolton from publishing book
The Trump White House is trying to stop former national security adviser John Bolton’s book from being published, CNN is reporting. The “formal threat” comes in the form of a letter, CNN’s sources say, but none of the parties involved—the White House, Bolton himself, or his publisher, Simon & Schuster—commented.
As Karen Tumulty tweeted, get ready for the advertising campaign dubbing this “the book the White House doesn’t want you to read,” but what the United States needs is not Bolton’s book, it’s Bolton’s testimony.
Bolton is a warmonger with blood on his hands and decades of faithful service to the Republican cause. But here, he has information the country needs to hear, not by giving him money for a book but under oath in the impeachment trial. The White House threat is not, most likely, about the book itself, either. It’s about sending a message to Republican senators not to vote to hear him, and to make regular people think of him as tainted.
The White House needs to discredit Bolton somehow, with polls showing big majorities in support of witnesses at the impeachment trial. Putting a cloud over him separate from the Senate vote on witnesses is the first move. There will be more—but all the people watching the White House campaign against Bolton need to remember that it’s not about him. It’s about what he witnessed Donald Trump saying and doing during his time as Trump’s close adviser.
Update:
xLetter to Bolton lawyer pic.twitter.com/ty0OMcoZOl
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 29, 2020
Parnas, former Ukraine fixer, turned away from Trump impeachment trial
Lev Parnas, an indicted businessman who says he worked to pressure Ukraine to investigate one of President Donald Trump's political rivals, traveled to Washington to press the Senate to allow him to testify in Trump's impeachment trial, only to be turned away at the U.S. Capitol. Trailed by TV cameras, bullhorn-wielding protesters and a sign that read "FAIR TRIAL," Parnas posed for selfies as he walked from Union Station to the U.S. Capitol building. No electronics are allowed in the Senate visitors' gallery, and Parnas has been ordered to wear an ankle bracelet to track his location as he awaits trial on federal campaign finance charges.