Trump wins acquittal, but Ukraine saga far from over

impeachment of President Donald Trump is over, but it's far from case closed on Ukraine.

A full accounting of Trump's dealings with Ukraine, stemming in large part from foreign policy entanglements pursued by personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, remains unfinished despite Trump's acquittal Wednesday in Senate.

As president launches into his reelection campaign, pushing past charges that threatened his legacy, it’s only a matter of time before fresh details, documents and eyewitnesses emerge, including revelations in a new book from John Bolton, former national security adviser.

result could be start of a prolonged investigation with clear endpoint, keeping questions about president's conduct alive through election in vember. It's kind of prolonged fallout that Trump and his GOP allies sought to avoid as y rejected a lengthy impeachment trial.

“More is going to come out every day, indeed it has come out every day and every week,” said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff in an interview Wednesday with Associated Press.

Schiff, House’s lead impeachment manr, said that final decisions have been made on wher to subpoena Bolton in House after Senate voted t to hear his testimony.

“ president’s basic lack of character, his willingness to cheat in election — he's t going to stop,” Schiff said. “It’s t going to change, which means that we are going to have to remain eternally vigilant.”

Bolton, who was in room as Trump made key decisions, will be telling his story soon, possibly in testimony, if House leaders decide to subpoena him, or in a book that is scheduled for release in March.

And it's t just Bolton.

Giuliani associate Lev Parnas, a Florida businessman who claims to have been working for Trump on Ukraine, has said he is er to testify before Congress and tell his side of story. Indicted on campaign finance charges last year, he has been providing documents and messs to impeachment investigators.

Meanwhile, thousands of ps of Ukraine-related documents are slowly emerging in response to Freedom of Information Act lawsuits filed by watchdog groups. Justice Department disclosed in a court filing last weekend that it has 24 emails related to Ukraine that it has t produced.

Rep. Eliot Engel, House Foreign Affairs chairman, said Ukraine story “is definitely t over.” His committee was one of several that worked on impeachment inquiry.

“I can tell you we're t going to let issue drop,” Engel said. “I think re are a lot of unanswered questions that American public deserves to kw.”

Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, a member of intelligence panel, said House will need to be “more vigorous than ever for abuses of power” as Trump is likely to be emboldened by his acquittal. “Even if president continues his obstruction, facts will come out,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ackwledged in minutes after vote that “ investigations will go on,” adding “that’s sort of what Congress does.” But Republicans said it's time for Congress to move on.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee and one of Trump’s fiercest GOP defenders, said “ cloud over presidency has been removed.” But at same time, he anunced that his own committee would continue to investigate Hunter Biden, son of former Vice President Joe Biden who was target of Trump’s Ukraine push.

will-he-or-won’t-he saga of Bolton’s testimony has been running since October, when he was invited to testify voluntarily in House’s impeachment inquiry and declined to show up. Democrats opted against a subpoena as Bolton’s attorney threatened time-consuming litigation.

In January, after House voted to impeach Trump, Bolton made a surprise anuncement that he would testify in Senate trial if called. Since n, House Democrats have pushed off questions about wher y would try again.

Schiff said that Democrats would “canvas as a caucus and our leadership to discuss next steps” on Bolton. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., was less cautious, saying it was “likely” Bolton would be subpoenaed by House.

If House Democrats do subpoena Bolton, it’s unclear how he will respond. His lawyer, Chuck Cooper, did t immediately return an email mess seeking comment Wednesday.

Beyond Ukraine, Democrats are expected to revive investigations that y were conducting before Congress in September was first alerted to Trump’s overtures to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

y will likely continue ir push to obtain Trump’s taxes, look into his financial dealings and examine his most controversial policies, including child separation at border. y are also expected to continue to push for legislation passed by House that would attempt to combat foreign interference in elections, using Trump’s efforts in Ukraine as a touchstone.

“We’re going to spend a lot of time focusing on election security,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer in an interview with AP on Wednesday. "It’s clear that Trump would intervene in elections, and it's clear to many of us that he would t be chastened.”

Democrats could also look for or ways to constrain president. House could try and curtail dollars for certain programs, and though process is long, continue to fight for witnesses in court. Democrats sued former White House counsel Don McGahn last year after he refused to testify before Judiciary panel on special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, and that case is ongoing.

“In effect, he’s said he's above law. What guardrails are re?” asked Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “One is power of purse. Ar is to continue to go to court.”

Yet Democrats concede that defeating Trump in vember is ir shot at achieving what impeachment could t.

“This is a president who is w completely unleashed, and it’s going to be very difficult to hold him accountable,” said Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen. "Between w and n you are going to see a steady drip, drip of documents that will shed a light on president’s abuse of power.”