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Senior level White House sources tell ABC the president’s legal team is preparing for the possibility of witnesses in the impeachment trial. Sources tell that the legal team is preparing aggressive, drawn out legal fight to block testimony of potential witnesses.
Any attempt by the White House to silence or censor John Bolton by going to a federal court would run into the quadruple buzz saw of the Senate’s “sole” power to try impeachments, the First Amendment, the Speech and Debate Clause, and political reality.
Search the transcript of Saturday’s impeachment trial, as President Trump’s lawyers began their opening arguments, and you’ll see there’s a name nowhere to be found: John Bolton, the former national security adviser.
The president’s lawyers made no mention of him. And now there’s no need to speculate why. Because the news about what’s in Bolton’s forthcoming book is out — and it shows that his testimony would be devastating to Trump.
The New York Times reported Sunday night that Bolton submitted his manuscript to the White House for pre-publication review four weeks ago. Which means, in all likelihood, that at least some members of the president’s defense team have known exactly what Bolton would say if called to the stand.
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