GOP’s Collins and Romney: Bolton book adds to case for witnesses at Trump impeachment trial
The impeachment trial resumes today at 1 p.m. EST. Refresh here for updates.
Murkowski says she’s ‘curious’ about Bolton’s testimony
A potential swing vote on witnesses, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska., said as she headed into a lunch meeting of Republican senators that she was “curious about Ambassador Bolton and what he has to say.”
– Nicholas Wu
Schumer: GOP Senate part of “cover-up” if Bolton not allowed to testify
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer Monday urged the Senate to call John Bolton as a witness in President Trump’s impeachment trial after The New York Times reported that the president’s former national security adviser said Trump told him he wished to withhold military aid in order to pressure Ukraine into helping with politically motivated investigations.
“It goes right to the heart of the charges against the president,” Schumer told reporters at a Capitol News conference. “It boils down to one thing: we have a witness with first-hand evidence of the president’s actions for which he is on trial. He is willing and ready to testify. How can Senate Republicans not vote to call that witness and request his documents?”
“There seems to be a giant cover-up among so many of the leading people in the White House who knew about it and said nothing, let alone tried to stop it,” Schumer said. ”If Senate Republicans are not going to vote to call Mr. Bolton and (acting Chief of Staff Mick) Mulvaney and the other witnesses now (and) if they’re not going to ask for notes and emails, they’re going to be part of the cover up too.”
Two GOP senators: Bolton news adds to case for testimony
Former national security adviser John Bolton’s reported revelations about what President Donald Trump told him on Ukraine appear to have increased the likelihood that at least some Republicans will side with Democrats in voting to call witnesses in the impeachment trial.
Maine Sen. Susan Collins, one of the Republican senators key to determining whether there will be witnesses, tweeted Monday that the reports about Bolton’s upcoming book “strengthen the case for witnesses and have prompted a number of conversations among my colleagues.”
Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, another key GOP senator, told MSBNC that it’s “increasingly apparent that it would be important to hear from John Bolton.”
“I think it’s increasingly likely that other Republicans will join those of us who think we should hear from John Bolton,” Romney said.
The New York Times reported Sunday that Bolton said Trump told him during a meeting in August that he did not want to release the military aid until Ukraine provided information related to the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.
Trump denied that account in a tweet Monday.
The House impeachment managers and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Bolton’s reported claims directly contradict key elements of Trump’s defense and that a fair trial requires his testimony.
Democrats need four Republicans to cross party lines and agree to subpoena witnesses.
– Maureen Groppe
News of Bolton book renews demands he testify
Democrats ratcheted up their demands that former national security adviser John Bolton testify in the trial of after The New York Times published a report Sunday that said Trump told Bolton he wished to withhold military aid to pressure Ukraine into investigating a political opponent.
In his upcoming book, Bolton wrote that Trump directly and explicitly told him in August that he wished to withhold $391 million in military aid to Ukraine that Congress appropriated until officials there turned over documents related to the 2016 election and former Vice President Joe Biden, the Times reported, citing people who had seen the manuscript.
Trump insisted on Twitter that the reported conversation never took place and said that if Bolton made that claim, it was “only to sell a book.”
Trump says two hours was plenty
Trump said in a tweet Sunday he thought two hours was all his legal team needed to take apart the Democrats’ case against him.
“The Impeachment Hoax is a massive election interference the likes of which has never been seen before. In just two hours the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats have seen their phony case absolutely shredded,” the president said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Fox News he thought “the House managers were articulate” and “created a compelling narrative.”
“But what happened yesterday, in two hours, the president’s defense team destroyed the narrative created in 21 hours regarding process and substance,” he said.
Dershowitz says Dems failed to make case for impeachment
The impeachment managers argued that Trump abused his power and obstructed their investigation by refusing to allow top administration officials to testify or handing over documents requested by House committees in the impeachment inquiry.
Impeachment comparisons:How Trump, Clinton impeachment trials compare
Attorney Alan Dershowitz, who is a member of Trump’s legal team, said on “Fox News Sunday” that, “they presented the strongest case they could present on their facts, but they didn’t come close to alleging impeachable offenses.”
Dershowitz has argued that a president must commit a crime to be impeached and removed from office, a position that has been disputed by many constitutional legal experts – including Dershowitz himself during the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.
But that argument aside, Dershowitz said the defense team on Monday will show that the allegations against Trump are not true and that the House managers presented the facts “incompletely.”
“Remember, there are three things that the Senate has to decide. One, is there sufficient evidence of what they claim?” he said. “Does it constitute, first of all, an abuse of power? And third, does abuse of power constitute impeachable offenses?”
Dems accuse the president of threatening Schiff
In another tweet, Trump tore into House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, the lead impeachment manager.
“Shifty Adam Schiff is a CORRUPT POLITICIAN, and probably a very sick man. He has not paid the price, yet, for what he has done to our Country!” Trump said.
Schiff said he thought Trump “intended” the tweet as a threat and his fellow impeachment managers agreed.
“I would just say to the American people, this is totally inappropriate. It is totally a threat, if you will, against the process of this investigation and of this trial,” Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., said Sunday when asked about the tweet on MSNBC.
How it works:Pathway of the impeachment process: How it works, where we are
“We are defenders of the Constitution,” Demings said, vowing the impeachment managers would do their job “regardless of what inappropriate comments” or “threats that come out of the president.”
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham told Fox News that Schiff’s characterization of the tweet as a threat was “ridiculous” and that she believed Trump meant Schiff would pay a price with voters.
Second day of Trump defense
President Donald Trump’s legal team presents the second day of its defense Monday in the Senate impeachment trial after the Democratic House managers laid out their case last week, charging the president with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Each side was given 24 hours to use for its arguments over three days. The president’s lawyers opened their case Saturday in a two-hour presentation that contrasted with the lengthy arguments from the Democratic panel, which used all of its 24 hours. White House counsel Pat Cipollone promised weary senators that the defense team would “finish efficiently and quickly.”
Contributing: Ledyard King, Christal Hayes, David Jackson, William Cummings, Deirdre Shesgreen
