Published 11:23 IST, January 30th 2020
Donald Trump lashes out at John Bolton as impeachment trial continues
US President Donald Trump recently lashed out a former National Security Advisor John Bolton as the impeachment trial in the Senate enters a new phase.
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As the impeachment trial of the 45th US President Donald Trump enters a new phase, Trump lashed out at his former National Security Advisor John Bolton. Bolton who got a book publishing deal a few months ago is due to release the said book in the coming weeks but the White House has made repeated attempts to try and block the publication of the book, according to reports.
A key witness
The argument revolves around whether the former National Security advisor who was let go last year should be allowed to testify in the impeachment trial taking place in the Senate. The 100 Senators that are seated at the trial hold the fate of Trump in their hands in only the third presidential impeachment trial in US history.
According to reports, Bolton's upcoming books details and confirms abuse of power by Trump which could really help the Democrats' case in the trial. Adam Schiff, who is the chief Democratic prosecutor, has said that the testimony of Bolton is paramount to conducting a 'fair trial'.
It has been reported that in his book Bolton talks about how the President asked him to freeze aid to Ukraine in August of last year and that the President's request was directly linked to his demand that Kiev investigate Joe Biden, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, and his son Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.
Schiff added that Bolton was a possible witness who was at the heart of the president's misconduct and to turn such a witness away and not give such a witness a chance would call into question the impartiality of jurors.
Trump for his part has claimed that the book written by Bolton is full of lies and contains information that is classified. The White House has even cited national security risk in a bid to stop the publication of the book. Trump in the form of Tweets has asked Republicans to resist the push by Democrats for more witnesses, claiming that they have had 17 witnesses while the Republicans have had none.
Why didn’t John Bolton complain about this “nonsense” a long time ago, when he was very publicly terminated. He said, not that it matters, NOTHING!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2020
Remember Republicans, the Democrats already had 17 witnesses, we were given NONE! Witnesses are up to the House, not up to the Senate. Don’t let the Dems play you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2020
No matter how many witnesses you give the Democrats, no matter how much information is given, like the quickly produced Transcripts, it will NEVER be enough for them. They will always scream UNFAIR. The Impeachment Hoax is just another political CON JOB!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2020
11:23 IST, January 30th 2020