Former White House National Security Adviser John Bolton says he’s prepared to consider a subpoena requiring him to testify, but Democrats don’t seem interested in asking Bolton to speak to their committees, months after he was initially invited to address allegations of problems in the White House.
Bolton is aggressively promoting his book, “The Room Where It Happened,” on cable news — a book he claims should be essential reading for voters considering casting a ballot for President Donald Trump (Bolton, of course, says he won’t be voting for Trump a second time in November).
Late last year and into early January, Bolton waffled on whether to testify in front of the House on President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, which Bolton now claims involved a quid-pro-quo agreement to trade an investigation into whether former Vice President Joe Biden family pulled strings for Hunter Biden in return for thousands of dollars in American foreign aid.
At one point, Bolton threatened to sue Democrats if they issued him a subpoena, but later, Bolton, then apparently a disaffected former White House employee, hinted that he would be willing to testify in the president’s Senate trial. Republicans blocked Democrats’ efforts to introduce new testimony in the second half of the impeachment inquiry, ending the matter.
Now, Bolton is again hinting that he could comply with Democrat’s efforts to investigate the president.
“Let’s see what they decide to do,” Bolton told ABC’s “Good Morning America,” according to the Washington Times. “The primary way we rein presidents in is not through impeachment — it’s through elections.”
“What they do next, obviously, is up to them,” Bolton continued, adding that he believes the Democrats “mishandled” the impeachment.
A chance to testify publicly in a Congressional hearing would, of course, benefit Bolton’s book sales and extend his publicity tour, but Democrats don’t seem to be interested in hearing what Bolton has to say months after his testimony might have been useful to their impeachment efforts.
Speaking to Jake Tapper Sunday, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) called further testimony from Bolton “a waste of time and effort.”
“No, we’re not interested in Bolton’s testimony,” Nadler added.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) was less committal, leaving the door open to the possibility of a Bolton appearance on “Meet the Press” — but even the head of the impeachment inquiry seemed to think Bolton’s offer to consider testifying in front of a House select committee too little too late.
“We haven’t had a chance to read the book,” Schiff said. “When we do, and we expect we will within the next 24 to 48 hours, like the rest of the country, we will look at what allegations like those involving Turkey and other countries, particularly involving China, need to be fleshed out and exposed to the light of day. And then we’ll make our decisions.”
He added, though, that it’s unlikely the House will launch into any further impeachment proceedings with the November election just around the corner. “But, you know, we do need, I think, to expose the length and breadth of this president’s depravity and how much it is endangering the country. So those facts are going to need to come out and we are discussing with the speaker and my fellow chairs just how to do that.”
Bolton’s book is due out on Tuesday.
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