The Senate impeachment trial may well hinge on John Bolton, who reportedly said in an unpublished manuscript that President Donald Trump explicitly tied military aid to Ukraine to the investigations he was pushing.
"If you have any question about it at all, you need to hear from his former national security advisor," Impeachment Manager Rep. Adam Schiff of California said on the floor of the U.S. Senate. "Don't wait for the book."
As the trial moved into a new question-and-answer phase Wednesday, Trump's lawyers said if senators voted to allow new witnesses like Bolton, they would call their own.
They also warned of litigation, suggesting Bolton's testimony could be barred based on national security concerns, and revealing that his manuscript was flagged by intelligence officials for including top-secret classified information.
"There would be a long list of witnesses, if the body were to go in that direction, it would mean this would drag on for months," said White House deputy counsel Patrick Philbin, a member of Trump's legal team. "To suggest that the national security advisor, 'Well, we'll just subpoena him, he'll come in, and that'll be easy, there won't be any problem' — that's not the way it would work."
Democrats said Trump waived executive privilege by addressing Bolton's account publicly.
Trump attorney Alan Dershowitz, meanwhile, said Trump's own personal political interests couldn't be separated from the public interest.
"If a president does something which he believes will help him get elected, in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment," Dershowitz said. "It's so dangerous to try to psychoanalyze a president."
House managers, meanwhile, shot down the idea that an impeachment vote shouldn't come so close to the November election.
"What you're really saying is you can only impeach a president in their second term. Ok, if that there were going to be the constitutional requirement, the founders would have put in the Constitution: a president may commit whatever high crimes and misdemeanors that he wants, as long as it's in the first term," Schiff quipped.
The Q&A continues Thursday, with the vote on witnesses to follow, possibly on Friday.
"Let's call John Bolton, let's call Mick Mulvaney, let's call other witnesses," Impeachment Manager Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York said. "Subject them to cross-examination and present the truth to the American people."
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FURTHER IMPEACHMENT COVERAGE
McConnell Allows House Evidence to be Included in Trump Impeachment Trial
Democrats Appeal for GOP to Help Convict Trump in Day 2 of Senate Impeachment Trial
Impeachment Managers Make Case for Convicting Trump for Abuse of Power
Sen. Gillibrand Speaks On the Impeachment Process Inside the Senate Chamber
Democrats Wrap Up Opening Arguments in Senate Impeachment Trial
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries's Star Is Rising as He Makes His Case in the Impeachment Trial
