* President complains of Bolton’s ‘nasty and untrue’ book * Book alleges Trump did link Ukraine aid delay to Biden inquiryModerate Republican senators were under an intense spotlight on Wednesday as the impeachment trial of Donald Trump moved into a dramatic new phase – and the president lashed out at former national security adviser John Bolton, who Democrats want to call as a key witness.Trump’s Twitter attack on Bolton – and subsequent moves by the White House to block his potentially damaging planned book – came amid signs the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, does not have enough Republican votes locked down to block Democrats’ efforts force witnesses into the impeachment trial.Leading Republican moderates Susan Collins, Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski kicked off the questioning phrase of the trial on Wednesday by asking, if Trump had multiple motives for delaying US military aid to Ukraine, how the Senate would handle that.That goes to the heart of the impeachment accusation that Trump inappropriately pressured Ukraine by holding back aid until the Ukrainian government agreed to investigate the president’s leading election rival Joe Biden, in what Democrats charge is an abuse of power.A looming question over Wednesday’s impeachment proceedings is whether centrist senators will side with Democrats to form a majority voting to bring witnesses in.While Democrats have Bolton at the top of their list, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer brushed off the prospect of moderate Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia supporting the prospect of Biden’s son Hunter being requested by Republicans to testify about his time working for a Ukrainian gas company.Manchin said on MSNBC on Wednesday he thought Hunter Biden should testify, which most Democrats have opposed.“We are totally united and have been totally united for a month and continue to be,” Schumer said of his Senate members at a press conference.Meanwhile, Trump attacked Bolton after reports that a draft manuscript of Bolton’s forthcoming book claims Trump directly linked a delay in military aid to Ukraine to a condition that the Ukrainian government investigate his Democratic rivals, especially Joe Biden.Trump wrote of Bolton: “… if I listened to him, we would be in World War Six by now, and goes out and IMMEDIATELY writes a nasty & untrue book. All Classified National Security. Who would do this?”One of Trump’s defense arguments during the impeachment inquiry was that those two were not connected. Critics say he was trying to use a vulnerable Ukraine to help his re-election chances; Trump said he was just trying to root out corruption there.> ....many more mistakes of judgement, gets fired because frankly, if I listened to him, we would be in World War Six by now, and goes out and IMMEDIATELY writes a nasty & untrue book. All Classified National Security. Who would do this?> > — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2020Trump maintains Bolton was fired last fall, while Bolton claimed he resigned.On Wednesday, Trump also complained about Bolton’s timing. He wrote: “Why didn’t John Bolton complain about this “nonsense” a long time ago, when he was very publicly terminated. He said, not that it matters, NOTHING!”The White House later sent a letter to Bolton’s attorney, which claimed his client’s book cannot be published in its current form because it contains top secret material.The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, is under pressure to round up his caucus and move to vote by the end of the week first to block witnesses and then to acquit Trump on the impeachment charges altogether.McConnell told his caucus in a meeting on Tuesday night, according to multiple reports, of the stakes.With an unknown number of Republican senators still undecided about calling witnesses, McConnell could still get the votes he needs to block witnesses and stop the trial from reeling off into unpredictable – and potentially hazardous – territory for the president. At least four Republicans would need to join Democrats to force witness testimony.Murkowski met with McConnell on Wednesday morning, adding to speculation that she could join Democrats in supporting a motion to bring in witnesses, according to a Senate aide.Trump’s defense team and his Republican allies have argued vehemently against the inclusion of witnesses at the trial, saying they already had enough information to decide the case and that the Senate should not be burdened by what they have framed as an incomplete process in the House of Representatives.But those arguments appear not to have been persuasive to the necessary number of senators. Trump’s lawyers concluded their opening arguments on Tuesday.Led by Trump’s personal lawyer Jay Sekulow, the defense team dismissed objections to Trump’s conduct towards Ukraine as “policy disagreements” and warned senators not to “lower the bar of impeachment” by voting to convict the president.A furious Trump complained on Twitter on Wednesday morning that Democrats could not be satisfied. During the inquiry process in the House of Representatives last year, the White House blocked senior administration officials from testifying in the House.> No matter how many witnesses you give the Democrats, no matter how much information is given, like the quickly produced Transcripts, it will NEVER be enough for them. They will always scream UNFAIR. The Impeachment Hoax is just another political CON JOB!> > — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2020No witnesses have appeared at the trial in the Senate, with House managers detailing the case for the prosecution of Trump that he abused the power of his office and, in gagging officials and blocking the release of some documentary evidence, obstructed Congress – forming the two articles of impeachment relating to Trump’s conduct with regard to Ukraine.Trump has no plans to appear at his own trial and has been pressing Congress to get it finished before he has to give his State of the Union address next Tuesday – the day after the crucial Iowa caucuses occur as the first voting event in the primary contest to choose the Democratic party nominee to challenge Trump for the White House this November.Moderate Biden is jostling for the top spot in opinion polls with resurgent leftwinger Bernie Sanders.

The National Republican Senate Committee on Wednesday criticized Georgia Representative Doug Collins for entering the state's U.S. Senate race against fellow Republican Kelly Loeffler."The shortsightedness in this decision is stunning," the NRSC said in a statement. "All he has done is put two Senate seats, multiple House seats, and Georgia's 16 electoral votes in play. The NRSC stands firmly behind Sen. Kelly Loeffler and urges anyone who wants to re-elect President Trump, hold the Senate GOP majority, and stop socialism to do the same."Collins also drew fire from the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC that works to advance a Republican majority in the Senate."It’s so selfish of Doug Collins to be promoting himself when President Trump needs a unified team and Senator Loeffler is such a warrior for the President," SLF president Steven Law said in a statement. "As we've said before, Senator Loeffler is an outsider like Trump, not just another DC politician. We’ll have her back if she needs us."Georgia governor Brian Kemp appointed Loeffler in December after Republican senator Johnny Isakson retired due to ongoing health issues. Kemp reportedly chose Loeffler, a multimillionaire businesswoman, to broaden GOP appeal to suburban and female voters.However, in doing so Kemp bucked President Trump and allies, who preferred that Collins be appointed to the Senate. Collins was a staunch supporter of Trump during House impeachment hearings.Loeffler must win a 2020 special election in order to complete Isakson's term. The freshman senator, who has been criticized by conservatives for her record on abortion, has strongly condemned the effort to impeach the president since taking office.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) isn't scared, and he doesn't think his fellow Democrats should be either.Manchin on Wednesday suggested he's open to calling Hunter Biden as a witness in the impeachment trial. "Being afraid to put anybody that might have pertinent information is wrong, no matter if you're a Democrat or a Republican," he said during in an interview with MSNBC's Willie Geist. "If it's relevant then it should be there."> Senator Manchin says he’s open to calling Hunter Biden... https://t.co/gmJyr6GbFX> > — Robert Costa (@costareports) January 29, 2020Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, has been present in President Trump's impeachment saga since the beginning. It was, after all, the Ukrainian gas company upon whose board he sat that Trump wanted Ukraine to investigate. Recently, there's been some theorizing that if former National Security Adviser John Bolton is brought into testify during the Senate trial, Republicans could counter by bringing in the younger Biden.Democrats have largely decried the idea, but Manchin doesn't appear to share the majority of his party's perspective. He did, however, say he thinks Hunter Biden would be able to "clear himself" if he did testify.More stories from theweek.com It's 2020 and women are exhausted John Bolton just vindicated Nancy Pelosi Trump to sign updated NAFTA pact in large White House ceremony, did not invite House Democrats

A funny thing happened in the impeachment trial of President Trump. Thanks to revelations regarding Trump and Ukraine from former National Security Adviser John Bolton, the trial went from being a speedy, all-but-certain path to acquittal to a potentially lengthy quagmire. But the timing of the Bolton bombshell might actually benefit Trump and Senate Republicans by preventing another round of impeachment, and allowing the GOP to dispose of this issue for good.Trump's legal team had just taken over the dais in the Senate impeachment trial, speaking to a Republican caucus ready for a quick acquittal. Democrats demanded testimony from Bolton, a move that Republicans had largely united to oppose. It appeared that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's argument that the Senate should not have to reopen the House investigation for impeachment would carry the day.And then, Bolton testified anyway — albeit indirectly.The New York Times published leaks from "multiple people" who had read the final draft of Bolton's memoir, which is still under review by the National Security Council to protect any classified information that might have been included. Those sources told the Times and later The Washington Post that Bolton declared that Trump had demanded Ukraine conduct an investigation of the Bidens in exchange for congressionally appropriated military aid. The account appeared to rebut Trump's oft-repeated denial of demanding a quid pro quo for aid Congress had already approved and Trump had signed into law. Furthermore, Bolton's account reportedly contradicted earlier denials from both Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and Attorney General William Barr.Suddenly, Democratic House impeachment managers who had just concluded their presentation to the Senate saw an opening to increase pressure for subpoenas, especially for Bolton. Some Senate Republicans seemed open to the idea as well, worried about how it would look to have Bolton's account made public without consideration at the trial. McConnell's unity appeared to fray in the first 48 hours after the leak as GOP moderates talked about cutting deals for a witness trade.Others, especially Trump, pushed back hard against the leak. Trump went on Twitter almost immediately to emphatically deny the description of Bolton's account, accusing Bolton of cooking it up to "sell a book." Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani called Bolton "John the Backstabber" while insisting the account was false. The RNC amplified Trump's charge by questioning the timing in a statement noting "how convenient" it was that the leak came "at the same time preorders" on Amazon could first be placed. White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham picked up on the timing argument, calling it "very, very suspect" that the revelations came just after Trump's defense team had begun its presentation.The timing is notable, but not necessarily because it handicaps Trump.Bear in mind that the publication date for Bolton's memoir was in less than two months. The certainty that Bolton would speak out by mid-March one way or the other put Senate Republicans in an extremely uncomfortable position. If they voted to acquit Trump without knowing what Bolton had to say, the outcome would be widely seen as illegitimate. It might have even pushed House Democrats to vote a new article of impeachment on the basis of Bolton's memoir and force the Senate back into a trial, but at the very least it would have made for campaign fodder against vulnerable Senate Republican incumbents this fall.Now, however, the leak lets Republicans off the hook, even if still leaves Trump on it. Trump may not have told the truth in his outright denials on the quid pro quo allegation, but at least Senate Republicans now know that for certain. The New York Times leak put the worst possible conclusion from Bolton where they can openly consider it and then still move to the alternate argument. After all, as former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy writes at National Review, there is no need to deny the quid pro quo because it's a moot point — the aid went without strings attached in the end, and it didn't rise to the "high crimes and misdemeanors" bar anyway.Trump's legal team subtly shifted its presentation to emphasize this point after the leak. Alan Dershowitz told the Senate on Monday that a "quid pro quo alone is not a basis for abuse of power … based on mixed or sole motives." In fact, Dershowitz said, "nothing in the Bolton revelations — even if true — would rise to the level of an abuse of power." Trump's denials of that might cast him in a poor political light if one believes Bolton, but that, Dershowitz argued, is an issue for elections. "Let the public decide," Dershowitz concluded.Republicans appear to have made this calculation as well. Politico reported late Tuesday that calm had returned to the caucus after a brief period of panic. A late meeting after the early conclusion of the president's case had produced a solid consensus that "we've heard enough," third-ranking caucus leader Sen. John Barasso told reporters. "The articles don't rise to the level of impeachable offenses," not even with the Bolton account apparently out in the open. The votes to acquit without witnesses aren't confirmed, but at the end of the day, the big question isn't whether a handful of Republicans would vote with Democrats for a Bolton subpoena. It's how many Democrats might cross the aisle to join the acquittal that everyone knows is coming anyway. If Trump gets a bipartisan vote to acquit, he might just have Bolton to thank for it.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com It's 2020 and women are exhausted Authorities find longest-ever border tunnel between Tijuana and San Diego The 3 kinds of Republicans that Bolton's testimony would reveal

Sen. Joe Manchin, West Virginia Democrat, on Wednesday said Hunter Biden would be a "relevant witness" in President Trump's impeachment trial.

"I think so — I really do," Mr. Manchin said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "I don't have a problem there because this is why we are where we are."