John Bolton’s forthcoming book includes the exact piece of evidence that Trump’s legal team insisted did not exist. jonathanchait writes
Photo: The Washington Post/The Washington Post via Getty Images When President Trump’s legal team unveiled its impeachment defense strategy on Saturday, the linchpin of the case was a small gap in the evidence. “Not a single witness testified that the president himself said that there was any connection between any investigations and security assistance, a presidential meeting or anything else,” said Mike Purpura.
This vulnerability in the defense was already evident at the time. “Putting such an emphasis on ambiguities in Sondland’s testimony,” observed National Review editor Rich Lowry, “only makes sense if you are *absolutely certain* Bolton won’t testify.
Trump’s defenders frantically scrambled for a new improvised defense as to why Bolton must never testify. “The Democrat controlled House never even asked John Bolton to testify. It is up to them, not up to the Senate!” tweeted the president. The first sentence is false — the House did request Bolton’s testimony — and even if true, the second sentence would not follow.
If Bolton does testify, he not only refutes the linchpin of Trump’s defense, he also potentially implicates a wide array of other officials. According to the New York Times, Bolton’s book describes conversations with several other nervous Trump officials, including Mulvaney, Mike Pompeo, and William Barr, all of whom could then be asked to testify in turn. It reports that he “warned White House lawyers that Mr.
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