Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) on Monday became the first Republican senator to state that he would like John Bolton, former White House national security advisor, to testify at the Senate impeachment trial if subpoenaed.
“I would like to be able to hear from John Bolton. What the process is to make that happen, I don’t have an answer for you,” Romney told reporters on Capitol Hill when asked whether he would be open to hearing from Bolton.
In a posted statement, Bolton said that if called to do so at a Senate trial, “I am prepared to testify.”
As a key adviser to Trump, Bolton was close to the president’s dealings with Ukraine. The House of Representatives last month charged Trump with two articles of impeachment stemming from an alleged effort to pressure the Eastern European nation into launching a politically motivated investigation of Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden.
AOC blames critics, Trump after Munich hiccup backlash
President Trump tells Netflix to fire Susan Rice or ‘pay consequences’
Rafter vanishes in Oregon wilderness, survives five-day ordeal before helicopter rescue
Zohran Mamdani declares NYC emergency, bans all travel during blizzard threatening city
Actual Convicted Terrorist Might Hold Office in European Country He Plotted Against
Don’t Let the Media Paint the Trans Hockey Shooter as MAGA – His X Profile Shows His Politics Were Inanely Contradictory, Even Schizophrenic
Breaking: Armed Man Shot Breaking Into Mar-A-Lago Carrying Fuel Can, Shotgun
Ex-Democrat Strategist Says AOC ‘Not Ready’ For Primetime After Her World Stage ‘Fumble’
Armed man shot and killed after ‘unauthorized entry’ into Mar-a-Lago: Secret Service
Exiled Iranian princess: Islamic regime ‘has never been this close’ to falling, people ‘begging’ Trump to help
Former FBI agent offers new theory about Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance: ‘Personal grievance’
Trump sending US military hospital ship to Greenland to ‘take care’ of sick
Anti-Voter ID Mamdani Pleads with Citizens to Show 2 Forms of ID to Sign Up for Emergency Snow Shoveling
Kentucky Christian Charter Schools Denied Public Funding by State Supreme Court
Third-party spoiler threatens to upend New Hampshire Senate race unless Trump ends ‘war on Crypto’
Bolton said during the impeachment hearings he would not testify before the House Intelligence Committee unless he was first subpoenaed by the committee and then ordered by a judge to defy Trump’s wishes by appearing before Congress.
The legal and constitutional struggle over Bolton’s possible House testimony went unresolved, he noted in his statement. Bolton said:
The House has concluded its constitutional responsibility by adopting articles of impeachment related to the Ukraine matter. It now falls to the Senate to fulfill its constitutional obligation to try impeachments, and it does not appear possible that a final judicial resolution of the still-unanswered constitutional questions can be obtained before the Senate acts.
Accordingly, since my testimony is once again at issue, I have had to resolve the serious competing issues as best I could, based on careful consideration and study. I have concluded that, if the Senate issues a subpoena for my testimony, I am prepared to testify.
Bolton’s statement comes after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) reaffirmed he has no plans to invite four current and former White House officials to testify as part of the trial, despite demands from his minority counterpart, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY). House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has refused to send the impeachment articles to the Senate, claiming those on Schumer’s witness list must be heard to ensure a “fair” trial.
AOC blames critics, Trump after Munich hiccup backlash
President Trump tells Netflix to fire Susan Rice or ‘pay consequences’
Rafter vanishes in Oregon wilderness, survives five-day ordeal before helicopter rescue
Zohran Mamdani declares NYC emergency, bans all travel during blizzard threatening city
Actual Convicted Terrorist Might Hold Office in European Country He Plotted Against
Don’t Let the Media Paint the Trans Hockey Shooter as MAGA – His X Profile Shows His Politics Were Inanely Contradictory, Even Schizophrenic
Breaking: Armed Man Shot Breaking Into Mar-A-Lago Carrying Fuel Can, Shotgun
Ex-Democrat Strategist Says AOC ‘Not Ready’ For Primetime After Her World Stage ‘Fumble’
Armed man shot and killed after ‘unauthorized entry’ into Mar-a-Lago: Secret Service
Exiled Iranian princess: Islamic regime ‘has never been this close’ to falling, people ‘begging’ Trump to help
Former FBI agent offers new theory about Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance: ‘Personal grievance’
Trump sending US military hospital ship to Greenland to ‘take care’ of sick
Anti-Voter ID Mamdani Pleads with Citizens to Show 2 Forms of ID to Sign Up for Emergency Snow Shoveling
Kentucky Christian Charter Schools Denied Public Funding by State Supreme Court
Third-party spoiler threatens to upend New Hampshire Senate race unless Trump ends ‘war on Crypto’
“We’ve heard it claimed that the same House Democrats who botched their own process should get to reach over here into the Senate and dictate our process,” McConnell said in a blistering floor speech last week.
The Republican added:
Let me clarify Senate rules and Senate history for those who may be confused. First, about this fantasy that the Speaker of the House will get to hand-design the trial proceedings in the Senate, that’s obviously a non-starter.
“The House went ahead without witnesses, and they didn’t pursue the witnesses in court,” he has said of the request. “They just blew right through that and accused the president of doing something improper by simply invoking executive privilege, which every president has done.”
Story cited here.
