John Bolton refuses to say if he would comply with a Democratic subpoena to testify on bombshell claims about Donald Trump in his book and says it’s up to voters to only give him one-term – as president calls him a ‘wacko’ again
John Bolton would not say Monday morning if he would comply with a subpoena if Democrats compelled him to testify regarding new information revealed in his upcoming book.
‘Let’s see what they decide to do,’ Bolton dodged when ABC News’ Good Morning America host George Stephenopoulos asked if he would testify this time around. ‘Look, let’s be clear, the primary way that we reign presidents in is not through impeachment, it’s through elections.’
‘And, you know, what they do next, obviously, is up to them,’ he said of the potential of a subpoena.
The former national security adviser insisted it was up to voters to make him a one-term president, claiming he would be writing in a conservative Republican on his ballot in November.
‘I hope [history] will remember him as a one-term president who didn’t plunge the country irretrievably into a downward spiral we can’t recall from,’ Bolton added.
‘We can get over one term – I have absolute confidence, even if it’s not the miracle of a conservative Republican being elected in November,’ he said. ‘Two terms, I’m more troubled about.’
‘I think one of the most important things I learned in watching Donald Trump up close, is he doesn’t have any philosophy,’ Bolton said of his 17 months in the White House.
‘It’s all about Donald Trump. And that, to me, is a lesson for Americans as a whole – but particularly for conservative Republicans,’ he added, claiming he ‘cannot in good conscious vote for him.’
The president lashed out at Bolton Monday, claiming he is ‘grossly incompetent’ and using his often repeated insult for his former adviser – ‘wacko.’
‘I gave John Bolton, who was incapable of being Senate confirmed because he was considered a wacko, and was not liked, a chance. I always like hearing differing points of view,’ Trump claimed in a tweet. ‘He turned out to be grossly incompetent, and a liar.’
Bolton’s book, The Room Where it Happened: A White House Memoir, will hit shelves Tuesday – after the Justice Department’s stop order was denied by a Reagan-appointed judge who claimed ‘the damage is done’ as 20,000 copies have already been sent out, and some leaking to the press.
While the DOJ and Trump claimed the book contained ‘highly classified’ information – and the judge agreed – the president has also insisted that it is full of ‘lies.’
Trump has also contradicted the Justice Department claims by saying it is a work of revenge ‘fiction’ for firing Bolton, even though the former adviser claims he resigned.
The main criticism of his book from Democrats, and some Republicans, is that instead of testifying before Congress as part of the impeachment proceedings, he decided to share that information in a bombshell book.
Bolton is promoting his new book, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, which details his 17 months as Trump’s national security adviser +6
Bolton is promoting his new book, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, which details his 17 months as Trump’s national security adviser
The move has been bashed as ‘greedy’ and selfish by the likes of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser threatened to sure Schiff’s committee if they issued a subpoena for his testimony – prompting the panel to back off.
Bolton blamed Democrats for his decision not to appear in Congress, claiming in an interview that aired on ABC Sunday night with Martha Raddatz that they went about the proceedings in a ‘politicized’ manner and said his testimony ‘would not have made a difference.’
‘Presidential behavior can be reckless, reprehensible, dangerous – doesn’t necessarily make it impeachable,’ Bolton told Stephenopoulos Sunday morning. ‘I think one of the mistakes that the Democrats made, and they made plenty, is the idea that everything is resolved through the impeachment process.’
‘They mishandled it badly, I called it impeachment malpractice in the book,’ he continued,
When pushed on why he decided to release a book rather than testify against the president on his first-hand knowledge of wrongdoing, Bolton said he was acting oh philosophy as a life-long conservative Republican.
Bolton reveals in the book that Trump did exactly what House Democrats accused him of doing in voting to impeach: condition millions in military aid to Ukraine on the country launching an investigation into political rival Joe Biden.
He also slammed Democrats in his interview with Raddatz for conducting a partisan impeachment, saying they were ‘almost as bad and somewhat equivalent to’ President Trump.
In the hour-long interview, Bolton defended his decision not to testify before Congress during the impeachment proceedings.
He writes in his new book that the Democratic-led House of Representatives committed malpractice by tailoring impeachment exclusively to Ukraine.
The House impeached the president after it was alleged that Trump sought to withhold aid from Ukraine unless the government in Kyiv investigated Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
As Barack Obama’s vice president, Biden was in charge of U.S. policy toward Ukraine. The president and his supporters allege that Hunter Biden obtained a position on the board of a Ukrainian energy firm because of his father’s standing.
Source: Daily Mail
Bolton is a fraud. He should have testified during the impeachment of Trump