What Bolton book? Trump lawyers skirt new disclosures

What Bolton book? Trump lawyers skirt new disclosures

WASHINGTON--President Donald Trump's fellow Republicans in the U.S. Senate came under renewed pressure on Monday to allow witnesses in his impeachment trial, while his defense team largely ignored disclosures from a former White House adviser.


  The elephant in the room on Day 2 of Trump's defense arguments was John Bolton, the former national security adviser whose unpublished book manuscript, according to the New York Times, included disclosures that go to the heart of the abuse of power charge against Trump.
  Bolton wrote that Trump told him he wanted to freeze $391 million in security aid to Ukraine until Kiev helped with investigations into Democrats, including political rival Joe Biden, and his son Hunter Biden, the Times reported. The Bolton disclosures prompted new calls by Democrats for Bolton and other witnesses to testify. Trump is accused of abusing the power of his office in seeking foreign interference in a U.S. election and of obstructing Congress.
  Trump's lawyers said after about seven hours of arguments that they would resume their presentation on Tuesday.
  Republican Senator Mitt Romney, a moderate who has at times criticized Trump, said there was a growing likelihood that at least four Republican senators would choose to call Bolton to testify, which would give Democrats the votes necessary in the Republican-led Senate to summon him. The Senate may resolve the issue of whether to call witnesses in a vote on Friday or Saturday. Democrats said the Bolton manuscript made it all the more pressing for the Senate to call Bolton as a witness.
  The Democratic-led House of Representatives impeached Trump last month, setting up the trial in the Senate on whether he should be removed from office. Trump is expected to be acquitted in the 100-seat chamber, where Republicans hold 53 seats.
  The White House directed current and former administration officials not to provide testimony or documents in the House inquiry that preceded the trial, and Senate Republicans have so far refused to allow any witnesses or new evidence. Senator Ted Cruz, a staunch Trump defender, said the Bolton book would not "impact the legal issue before this Senate."
  Trump's legal team on Monday resumed its presentation of opening arguments in the trial, including remarks by Ken Starr, the former independent counsel whose investigation into a sex scandal led to the 1998 impeachment of President Bill Clinton, a Democrat. Another Trump lawyer, Jane Raskin, defended his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.
  Bolton was barely mentioned. In an apparent reference to the manuscript leak, Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow said: "We deal with publicly available information. We do not deal with speculation, allegations that are not based on evidentiary standards at all."
  Instead, defense lawyers turned to Joe Biden, one of Trump's leading Democratic rivals as he seeks re-election in November, and Hunter Biden, who sat on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma while his father was U.S. vice president. Attorney Pam Bondi defended Trump's use of unsupported corruption allegations against the Bidens as the basis for his demand that Ukraine investigate them.
  She presented a series of media reports, Ukrainian gas company records and excerpts from impeachment inquiry testimony in an attempt to demonstrate that a range of independent observers were concerned that Hunter Biden's role posed a potential conflict of interest. "All we are saying is that there was a basis to talk about this, to raise this issue, and that is enough," Bondi said.
  Ukrainian officials have said they found no indication that Hunter Biden had broken any law. Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates on Monday dismissed Bondi's allegations, saying they had been widely discredited.
  "The president's lawyers spent about two hours trashing the Bidens," said Representative Adam Schiff, the lead House impeachment prosecutor. He added that Trump's defense team could not explain why Trump took an interest in corruption and Burisma only when Biden became a presidential candidate.

The Daily Herald

Copyright © 2020 All copyrights on articles and/or content of The Caribbean Herald N.V. dba The Daily Herald are reserved.


Without permission of The Daily Herald no copyrighted content may be used by anyone.

Comodo SSL
mastercard.png
visa.png

Hosted by

SiteGround
© 2024 The Daily Herald. All Rights Reserved.