Schiff Says Bolton Withheld Evidence 'Directly Relevant' to Impeachment
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) says former National Security Advisor John Bolton had evidence that could have altered the outcome of the impeachment of President Donald Trump, but he withheld it to make a profit from his book.
“Last week, we witnessed the reemergence of John Bolton, the president’s former national security adviser, and the release of his book,” Schiff wrote in an op-ed in USA Today. “In it, Bolton describes his personal experiences with Trump and his great alarm at Trump’s incompetence, his dangerous subordination of our national security to his own personal interests, and his fundamental indecency.”
He continued:
“We proved during the impeachment trial that Donald Trump withheld hundreds of millions in military aid to Ukraine to coerce that country into announcing a sham investigation of his political rival. Bolton confirms our case and provides additional evidence of that flagrant abuse of power by providing a firsthand account of how Trump confirmed this illicit quid pro quo during a conversation they had.”
Schiff said that not only does Bolton’s book “confirm the impeachment charges” against Trump, but allegedly proved that Trump would accept assistance from a foreign power in the upcoming election.
“As it turns out, this was no hypothetical. Bolton details how Trump sought re-election help from China, at one point begging China’s President Xi Jinping for assistance and apparently offering trade concessions to get it,” Schiff said.
Schiff then questioned Bolton’s motivations for not testifying during the impeachment process, “Given his damning portrait of a dangerously out-of-control U.S. president, and the astonishing degree to which Bolton possessed evidence directly relevant to our impeachment investigation, what are we to make of Bolton’s decision to withhold this information until he could profit from it?”
“Only this, that John Bolton is no patriot. To the same extent and in the same degree in which he condemns Trump, Bolton indicts himself for putting profit above patriotism,” he said.
Finally, Schiff added, “When our history is written, Donald Trump will be judged harshly, as will those Republican members of the Senate who refused to stand up to him in the face of such graphic evidence of wrongdoing and unfitness for office. But neither will it be kind to John Bolton who had a chance to make a difference and chose to make a profit instead.”
Schiff’s attack on Bolton comes after the former national security adviser’s new book “The Room Where It Happened” was released last week.
In the book, Bolton details what says were Trump’s “Ukraine-like transgressions,” which he says “existed across the full range of his foreign policy.”
Bolton has defended his decision against testifying in House Democrats’ impeachment proceedings and accused Democratic lawmakers of committing “impeachment malpractice.“
The House passed two articles of impeachment against Trump — one for abuse of power and the other for obstruction of Congress — over his dealings in Ukraine last year.
However, the Republican-controlled Senate voted to acquit him of both charges.
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