Bolton claims add pressure to growing calls for witness testimony at Senate impeachment trial
The New York Times report on John Bolton's manuscript indicates the former national security adviser claims President Trump directly tied Ukraine aid to an announcement about an investigation into the Bidens; chief congressional correspondent Mike Emanuel reports from Capitol Hill.
"The View" co-host Joy Behar suggested on Tuesday that former National Security Adviser John Bolton's claims should be a "smoking gun" in President Trump's impeachment trial.
"In a just world, this business with Bolton would be the smoking gun," Behar said. "This is it, he was a direct witness to the conversation about Ukraine. It would be the smoking gun but because Mitch McConnell is in charge, there is no justice in the world," Behar added, referring to the Senate majority leader.
This isn't the first time Behar has harsh words for McConnell. She previously suggested McConnell lacked the courage to stand up to Trump until it started impacting him financially. "Mitch McConnell finally found his testicles because it's near his wallet," she said.
Her Tuesday comments came amid a report that Bolton's new book claims that President Trump explicitly said he wanted to condition foreign aid on whether or not Ukrainians investigated Democrats like former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
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On Monday McConnell reportedly deflected calls for new witnesses like Bolton in the trial. Democrats have complained that McConnell was collaborating too closely with the White House and therefore wouldn't provide a fair trial. Central to this dispute is whether Republicans should allow new witnesses or evidence.
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Bolton's assertion could undercut a key defense argument — that Trump never tied the suspension of security aid to political investigations. The former adviser has also said that he would be willing to testify if subpoenaed by the Senate.
The revelation clouded White House hopes for a swift end to the impeachment trial, fueling Democratic demands for witnesses and possibly pushing more Republican lawmakers to agree.
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It also distracted from hours of arguments from Trump’s lawyers, who declared anew that no witness has testified to direct knowledge that Trump’s delivery of aid was contingent on investigations into Democrats. Bolton appeared poised to say exactly that if called on by the Senate to appear.
“We deal with transcript evidence, we deal with publicly available information,” Trump attorney Jay Sekulow said. “We do not deal with speculation.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.