Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will soon be hearing the impeachment case against President Donald Trump in the upper chamber and, though Republicans control much of the outline of the trial, Schumer has been vocal in his calls for former White House aide John Bolton to testify.
During a recent press conference, Schumer repeated his position, saying, “No trial will be a fair trial without witnesses and documents and John Bolton is a key witness and so he should be subpoenaed.”
He continued, “If [Bolton] is subpoenaed, executive privilege won’t stop him. They tried to invoke executive privilege against Fiona Hill, they tried to invoke executive privilege against William Taylor, they tried to invoke executive privilege against [Sondland] — but since they wanted to go ahead and testify, they did. Bolton could do just the same.”
Watch the video below:
Sen. Chuck Schumer: "John Bolton is a key witness and so he should be subpoenaed." pic.twitter.com/UB6NXVZ8RO
— The Hill (@thehill) January 13, 2020
For the past month, Schumer has been calling for Bolton — who served as Trump’s national security advisor — to testify. In a December letter to McConnell, Schumer sought the testimonies of Bolton and of White House acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.
But the narrative around a possible Bolton testimony changed completely in early January when the former aide said that he will appear in the Senate trial if he is subpoenaed.
And after Bolton’s shift-of-narrative, Schumer immediately pounced, demanding that Republicans subpoena him, saying, “Given that Mr. Bolton’s lawyers have stated he has new relevant information to share, if any Senate Republican opposes issuing subpoenas to the four witnesses and documents we have requested they would make absolutely clear they are participating in a cover up.”
McConnell has wobbled on whether or not he will support witnesses in the trial. Instead, he has suggested that he will coordinate the president’s defense with the White House — a strategy that Schumer has called “totally out of line.”
