Trump’s Impeachment Defense Team Pretends That Bolton Revelations Didn’t Happen

President Donald Trump’s lawyers continue their defense in his impeachment trial on Monday, going into further detail of what they briefly outlined on Saturday trying to avoid mention of the explosive revelations from former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton.

The defense team attempted to undercut key witness testimonies in the House inquiry and attacked the impeachment proceedings themselves, accusing House managers of trying to interfere in this year’s presidential election.

On Sunday, it was reported that Bolton says in an unpublished book that the president personally tied aid for Ukraine to an investigation into the Bidens. Trump took to Twitter to deny these allegations and said, “If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book.”

It seems his defense team echoed the same sentiments at the Senate hearings. Ken Starr, an attorney on the president’s team, said that the president wasn’t being allowed “basic rights” given to other presidents. He added that the two counts the House charged Trump with “come before this court, this high court of impeachment, dripping with fundamental process violations.”

“In this particular juncture in America’s history, the Senate is being called to sit as the high court of impeachment all too frequently,” Starr said. “Indeed, we are living in what I think can aptly be described as the ‘age of impeachment.'”

However, it seems that more Republicans are willing to have Bolton testify, which could hinder Trump’s defense team dramatically. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said Monday that she was “still curious” to hear what the former National Security Advisor could say in testimony following the reported revelations in his upcoming book.

This comes after Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) already expressed their willingness to have witnesses introduced to the Senate hearings. Romney said he believed that it’s “increasingly likely” for Republicans to favor witnesses, while Collins said the news from Bolton will “strengthen the case” for witnesses. 

Article by Anacaona Rodriguez Martinez