Trump denies asking top aide John Bolton to pressure Ukraine

US President Donald Trump in a statement issued a blanket denial to having ever instructed former National Security Advisor John Bolton to pressure the Ukranian President. According to reports, the yet unpublished book by John Bolton details how the US President ordered him to set up a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky and Rudy Giuliani who is his personal lawyer.

Trump denies any wrongdoing

Bolton in his book claims that he was ordered by Trump to do so back in May 2019 which is a full two months before Trump made a phone call to Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky in order to ask him to investigate Joe Biden. It was this phone call that is considered to be the trigger for the impeachment trial.

According to local media, Trump wanted Ukraine to dig up dirt Joe Biden, one of Trump's main Democratic opponents ahead of the 2020 presidential election. Apparently Bolton never carried out Trump's alleged orders. In addition to denying that Trump ever ordered ex-NSA John Bolton to pressure Ukraine, the White House also attempted to stop the publishing of Bolton's book claiming that the book contained classified information that should not be made public.

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Some excerpts from Bolton's book have already been leaked and they have just reinforced Democrats' accusations at the last minute of the impeachment trial.

Senate won't allow more witnesses

On Friday the Senate voted 51-49 against bringing more witnesses into the impeachment trial. Following this latest vote, US President Donald Trump is all acquitted because the Democrats do not have the votes in the Senate to find the President guilty. The Senate is scheduled to hear closing arguments by Democratic prosecutors and White House defence lawyers on Monday and a vote for acquittal on Wednesday. Trump is also scheduled to give his State of the Union speech in a special joint session of Congress. 

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The witnesses that the Democrats wanted to call on for the trial included former national security advisor John Bolton and White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.