Category: JohnBolton

Lindsey Graham supports scheme to review Bolton manuscript in secret, prevent witnesses at trial

Posted on by Mark Sumner

On Monday, Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma offered nervous Republicans an exit ramp from the dilemma posed by former national security adviser John Bolton. Rather than have Bolton appear as a witness in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, Republicans would instead have a chance to look at the manuscript of Bolton’s upcoming book, which claims that Bolton has knowledge as a firsthand witness to Trump’s alleged actions, in secret, and then determine how to proceed.

On Tuesday, Lindsey Graham signed on to this scheme, calling for the manuscript to be made available in ”a classified setting.” Not only is this an obvious ploy to prevent Bolton from ever answering questions in front of Mitch McConnell’s personally controlled camera; it also means that Republicans, after a trial in which they have constantly accused Democrats of changing the rules to gather evidence in “secret,” are genuinely looking to change the rules … so they can examine evidence. In secret.

Bolton has already volunteered to appear before the Senate if subpoenaed, and over the weekend The New York Times revealed that Bolton’s upcoming book details a conversation in which Donald Trump explicitly connects military assistance for Ukraine to extorting an investigation by that country into Joe Biden. Keeping that information out of the Senate trial has become a growing challenge, as polls show swelling support for the testimony of Bolton and other potential witnesses.

The idea of a secret review of the manuscript offers Republicans several attractive options. First, they can emerge from the classified setting to declare that there’s no there there, no matter what’s actually contained in the text. Second, they can condemn Bolton’s text as a money grab from someone whom Fox News is now repositioning from a longtime Republican hardliner to a “deep state agent” who is part of a conspiracy featuring former FBI Director James Comey. Finally, Bolton’s manuscript can be cherry-picked for both complimentary statements about Trump and derogatory comments about Democrats.

If this scheme goes forward, expect Graham to simultaneously claim that Bolton’s manuscript is a smear against Trump and that it says bad, bad things about Nancy Pelosi/Hillary Clinton/Barack Obama. But most of all, expect Graham and other Republicans to claim that, after reviewing the manuscript, they find no reason for Bolton to answer any more questions. Especially when Trump is going to fight Bolton’s appearance.

Then Republicans can demand that Joe Biden appear. After all, they’ll say, they heard from Bolton.

Bolton’s team denies leaking his book, contends White House made copies

Posted on by Lauren Floyd

President Donald Trump claimed to reporters Monday that he hadn't seen the manuscript from former national security adviser John Bolton’s new book, but Bolton’s team reportedly believes the White House was not only given the manuscript but made copies of it, according to NBC News. The book, which The New York Times obtained a copy of, alleges that Trump told Bolton military aid to Ukraine was being delayed until the country investigated Trump’s political adversary, which is now the central claim of the president’s impeachment trial.

NBC News correspondent Carol Lee reported Monday that one hard copy of Bolton's book was delivered to the White House in December for a national security review. "What happened to the copy of the book is unknown to Bolton's team, but it appears copies of it were made," NBC News said in its report. "Bolton's team submitted the book 'in good faith' and now feels that process was corrupted." 

In an interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, Lee said Bolton’s team is contending: “Essentially it's hard to get your head around the idea you have one copy of a book and everyone is passing it around, and then all of those people are going and talking to reporters about what they read in this one copy that they've all been sharing.” Lee added: “So it suggests that there are multiple copies floating around and from the Bolton team's perspective, they're saying we give them one copy. What they did with it, we don't know, but clearly it's gotten out there and it's not coming from us. They really want to distance themselves from the idea he is somehow behind leaking this.”

RELATED: This one on John Bolton was a big, stupid lie even by Trump standards

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Tuesday in impeachment: Trump’s defense team closes out opening arguments

Posted on by Laura Clawson

Donald Trump’s impeachment defense team spent Monday strenuously ignoring the news that there is a firsthand witness willing to testify under subpoena that Trump linked military aid to Ukraine to the country helping him out with some election interference. Expect more of the same on Tuesday, when the defense’s opening arguments resume at 1 PM ET.

This is the final day of defense arguments, and in theory it could stretch into the early hours of Wednesday, since Trump’s lawyers haven’t even used half of their 24 hours. But it’s generally expected that they won’t use all their time. This makes sense: Since they’re not spending meaningful time on the facts or evidence, every hour of defense arguments is another hour of repetition of the same lies and conspiracy theories and spurious constitutional claims, with the occasional detour into “They’re tying themselves to Rudy Giuliani? Really?”

After opening arguments from both sides have ended—likely starting Wednesday—the senators will have a chance to submit written questions to be read by Chief Justice John Roberts. The question-and-answer period will last 16 hours.

The big question for the week is whether Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will then be able to rush an acquittal, or whether four or more Republican senators will decide that former national security adviser John Bolton’s eyewitness account of Trump’s Ukraine extortion is worth hearing—or at least that the political downside of such an extreme cover-up is too big to risk. But first we have to get through the rest of these mendacious opening arguments.

Some House Democrats push for Bolton to testify in House as Senate Republicans keep pushing cover-up

Posted on by Laura Clawson

House Democrats have been reluctant to call former national security adviser John Bolton to testify in recent weeks, but that may be changing. Bolton wrote in his forthcoming book that Donald Trump explicitly told him that the hold on military aid to Ukraine was connected to Trump’s push for Ukraine to investigate his political opponents, but most Senate Republicans sound as committed as ever to covering up for Trump.

The House Intelligence Committee had asked Bolton to testify in November, but after he refused to do so without a court battle and the House sent impeachment articles to the Senate, House Democrats argued that the question of Bolton’s testimony was now in the Senate’s hands for the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Now, though, Mother Jones reports that “several House Democrats on Monday initiated talks within their caucus about taking the dramatic step of subpoenaing him or once again requesting that he testify before a House committee, according to multiple Democratic sources.”

Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee chair and lead House impeachment trial manager, continues to be opposed to subpoenaing Bolton, not wanting Senate Republicans to use “but the House” as an excuse for not voting to have Bolton as an impeachment trial witness. What if (when) Senate Republicans push through their cover-up, though? Are House Democrats just going to leave Bolton’s likely testimony dangling?

Trump’s impeachment defense resumes Monday amid fallout from Bolton bombshell

Posted on by Laura Clawson

What is Donald Trump’s defense team going to do during their impeachment trial arguments now that former national security adviser John Bolton has blown up one of their key contentions? They’ve insisted again and again that no witnesses had heard directly from Trump that Ukraine aid was held up to get investigations of Trump’s political opponents. But now we learn that Bolton’s book says that he had exactly that conversation with Trump—and Bolton has said he would testify under subpoena. 

The impeachment trial will resume at 1 PM ET with Trump’s defense team continuing the opening arguments it briefly launched on Saturday, at the time strongly centering that “there are no eyewitness accounts” claim. The Sunday evening report of Bolton’s claim should pose a problem to any defense team. But does this one care enough? 

Pat Cipollone, Jay Sekulow, and the rest of Trump’s lawyers have been content to lie and attack. They’re unlikely to change that basic strategy now, whether they continue on as if there was no new information, or acknowledge the reports in order to attack Bolton. But it will be interesting to see if they appear at least a little flustered. If they seem to have had a late night trying to reformulate their case even the slightest bit. If there’s visible flop sweat.

The other question is how Senate Republicans will respond. They’ve been okay with the whole lie-and-attack defense because they want to cover up what Trump did and move on, Republican political power intact. They’ve swallowed the Trump arguments whole, no matter how ridiculous, while feigning deep outrage every time Democrats have suggested that there’s a problem with covering up a president’s efforts to solicit foreign interference to benefit him in an election. Thanks to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s tight restrictions on cameras, we don’t get to see the senators’ reactions. But it sure is going to be interesting to hear from reporters how the atmosphere in the Senate chamber and the demeanor of key senators compare with previous days.

What did Moscow Mitch know about Bolton bombshell and when did he know it?

Posted on by Joan McCarter

Senate Republicans are reportedly feeling "blindsided" by the revelation from John Bolton's upcoming book that Donald Trump personally told the former national security adviser that he was withholding aid to Ukraine until he got his investigations into Democrats and the Bidens. They want to know who in the White House knew about this and why it was withheld from them, they say. They should be looking closer to home, at their majority leader, Mitch McConnell, if indeed this news came as a total shock to them.

Bolton's lawyer said he provided the manuscript of his book to the White House on Dec. 30. That's two weeks after McConnell promised Sean Hannity on Fox News, "Everything I do during this, I'm coordinating with White House Counsel. There will be no difference between the president's position and our position as to how to handle this." Just a few days after that interview, McConnell told reporters, "I'm not an impartial juror. This is a political process. There's not anything judicial about it. […] I would anticipate we will have a largely partisan outcome in the Senate. I'm not impartial about this at all." He also said that it was the House's "duty to investigate" and not the Senate's, and that "we certainly do not need 'jurors' to start brainstorming witness lists for the prosecution."

It's time to end McConnell's destructive stranglehold on the republic. Please give $1 to our nominee fund to help Democrats and end McConnell's career as Senate majority leader.

There is no way that McConnell didn't know what the White House was sitting on with the Bolton manuscript. There is no way that McConnell wasn't acting with the White House to keep this information from his Republican senators. If in fact he did keep it under wraps. If they're blindsided by anything, it's because they thought the White House had done a better job at shutting Bolton up.

This one on John Bolton was a big, stupid lie even by Trump standards

Posted on by Laura Clawson

Donald Trump responded in the most Donald Trump way to news that former national security adviser John Bolton wrote that Donald Trump personally told him that military aid to Ukraine was held up until Ukraine investigated Trump’s political opponents: He lied. And Trump didn’t just lie about whether he held up the aid to get help in the 2020 elections. He lied about something that can easily, publicly be proven as a lie.

According to an early morning Trump rage-tweet, “The Democrat controlled House never even asked John Bolton to testify. It is up to them, not up to the Senate!” This is so ridiculously false it's embarrassing even by Trump’s standards.

The House Intelligence Committee scheduled a deposition with Bolton in early November, then waited to see if he’d show up. Bolton instead said he would go to court to get a ruling on whether the White House could block him from testifying. “We would welcome John Bolton’s deposition and he did not appear as he was requested today,” the Intelligence Committee said in a statement at the time. “His counsel has informed us that unlike three other dedicated public servants who worked for him on the NSC and have complied with lawful subpoenas, Mr. Bolton would take us to court if we subpoenaed him.” Instead, the committee marked Bolton’s refusal, under White House pressure, as another piece of Trump’s obstruction of Congress.

Trump needs the world to believe him over Bolton, to believe that he did not tell Bolton that the Ukraine aid was on hold for his own political benefit. But he can’t even tell the truth about the House having called Bolton to testify in the impeachment inquiry. That’s how much Donald Trump’s word is worth, and how much contempt he has for people who remember things that happened all the way back in November. John Bolton is warmongering scum, but there’s just no contest here.

Senate Republicans fear that if Bolton testifies, ‘the floodgates are open’

Posted on by Laura Clawson

In a reasonable world, the bombshell report that former national security adviser John Bolton wrote that Donald Trump tied military aid to Ukraine to investigations targeting his political opponents would have immediately prompted a stream of Republican senators to say that they were voting to have witnesses testify in Trump’s impeachment trial. Well, in a reasonable world, Republican senators would already have supported the testimony of witnesses—but we don’t live in either of those worlds, and we’re still waiting to hear if even four Republicans will do the right thing.

Even anonymous Republican sources for insider D.C. publications aren’t making any bold predictions about what’s going to happen next. Axios reports, “GOP sources say the revelation could be enough to sway the four Republican senators needed for witnesses.” Could be, not will definitely. Politico Playbook wrote that “our GOP sources said they could not predict what was going to happen now with witnesses, and the Republican Conference lunch today will be key in determining the state of play.” Again, no guarantees.

Trump’s defenders have insisted again and again that the many witnesses to his pressure campaign against Ukraine didn’t count because none of them had heard directly from him that nearly $400 million in military aid was held up specifically to demand investigations into Trump’s political opponents. That’s exactly what Bolton’s book reportedly does say: that Trump told him that was the reason for the hold-up. 

But the fact that Bolton could knock down that critical Trump defense is exactly one of the reasons Team Trump will fight having him testify. A Republican source told Axios that “there is a sense in the Senate that if one witness is allowed, the floodgates are open.” If Bolton testifies, who knows? It might be harder for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to block other witnesses and evidence: “If [Bolton] says stuff that implicates, say Mick [Mulvaney] or [Mike] Pompeo, then calls for them will intensify.”

In other words, Bolton’s revelation increases public and media pressure on Senate Republicans to vote to call witnesses at the impeachment trial. But, if anything, it increases pressure from Team Trump and Senate Republican leadership to block witnesses, because they know just how devastating this could be. 

Senate Republicans face a very simple question: continue to cover up, or do the rock-bottom minimum needed for a fair impeachment trial? 

House impeachment managers: Bolton ‘directly contradicts the heart’ of Trump’s defense

Posted on by Hunter

The team of House managers presenting the case for impeachment in the Senate trial of Donald Trump have released their first statement responding to the news that John Bolton asserts Trump personally told him he was freezing congressionally-approved military aid to Ukraine until Ukraine agreed to assist in investigations of Democrats and his potential challenger Joe Biden:

“Today’s explosive revelation that President Trump personally told former National Security Advisor John Bolton that he would continue the freeze on military aid to Ukraine until that country agreed to his political investigations confirms what we already know. There can be no doubt now that Mr. Bolton directly contradicts the heart of the President’s defense and therefore must be called as a witness at the impeachment trial of President Trump.

“Senators should insist that Mr. Bolton be called as a witness, and provide his notes and other relevant documents. The Senate trial must seek the full truth and Mr. Bolton has vital information to provide. There is no defensible reason to wait until his book is published, when the information he has to offer is critical to the most important decision Senators must now make—whether to convict the President of impeachable offenses.

“During our impeachment inquiry, the President blocked our request for Mr. Bolton’s testimony. Now we see why. 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. President Trump’s cover-up must come to an end.

“Americans know that a fair trial must include both the documents and witnesses blocked by the President—that starts with Mr. Bolton.”

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Nancy Pelosi also weighs in:

Amb. Bolton reportedly heard directly from Trump that aid for Ukraine was tied to political investigations.The refusal of the Senate to call for him, other relevant witnesses, and documents is now even more indefensible.The choice is clear: our Constitution, or a cover-up.

Bolton bombshell ramps up the pressure on Senate Republicans to call impeachment witnesses

Posted on (Updated by Laura Clawson

The report that former national security adviser John Bolton’s book says Donald Trump told him that nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine was held up to pressure the country to interfere in the 2020 elections is a direct challenge to every Republican senator. The supposedly “moderate” Republican senators have been frantically searching for any excuse to vote against calling witnesses in Trump’s impeachment—Democrats were mean! Why didn’t the House spend months and months in the courts so that Republicans could accuse them of impeaching close to an election?—but with a report that one of the key witnesses Democrats are seeking can and will fill in exactly what Trump said about his pressure campaign against Ukraine, their excuses are all gone.

That’s not to say that Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Cory Gardner, Mitt Romney, and Lamar Alexander will do the right thing. Four of them need to step up and vote for a real trial rather than a continued cover-up. Four of them—or any other Senate Republican—need to be brave enough to go against Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. But the fact that we have to question whether four out of 53 Republicans will do this most basic thing to protect the integrity of the presidency and U.S. democracy is yet another indictment of today’s Republican Party and its drive for power above all else.

John Bolton is a hard-right warmonger, but somehow Senate Republicans and Donald Trump are making him look good—that’s how bad they are. “Bolton's motivations for testimony - he has a story he wants to tell, and he is concerned he'll be accused of holding stuff back to juice his book sales instead of speaking out,” New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman tweeted.

Now it’s on the Senate. Specifically, any four Senate Republicans to say that they put country, Constitution, and democracy above the short-term interests of Donald Trump and his Republican Party.