The White House’s plans for a speedy trial were thrown into doubt with Senate Republicans on Tuesday floating competing proposals on how to deal with new explosive revelations from ex-national security adviser John Bolton that have the potential to blow up theimpeachment trial -- and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell telling Republicans he doesn’t have enough votes to block the calling of impeachment witnesses.
GOP senators were all over the map on Tuesday asPresident Trump’s defense team called Bolton’s manuscript “inadmissible” and warned against opening the door to new wild-card information in the ongoing trial.
A source with knowledge of McConnell’s comments confirmed to Fox Business that the Kentucky Republican told people in a private meeting Tuesday they did not have the votes to block impeachment witnesses. The Wall Street Journal first reported the comments.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., called for Bolton’s unpublished manuscript to be made available for senators to read in a classified Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility [SCIF] to understand what Bolton was alleging. His proposal got an ally in influential Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who called the idea a “reasonable solution.”
Some senators suggested that Bolton just spill the beans in a news conference on the sidelines of the impeachment trial.
“The Wall Street Journal has called for John to just come forward -- just tell the public what you know,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said. “I think that actually [would] be a smart thing. I’d encourage John to do that without involving the trial.”
The creative suggestions came after The New York Times reported Bolton’s manuscript included a claim that Trump explicitly linked a hold on military aid to Ukraine to an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden. Trump told Bolton in August, according to a transcript of Bolton’s forthcoming book reviewed by The Times, “that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens.”
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