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President Donald Trump’s legal team began laying out its case against impeachment in the Senate as Democrats increased pressure in the chamber to allow former National Security Adviser John Bolton to testify in the trial.
Pam Bondi, one of Trump’s impeachment attorneys and the former Attorney General of Florida, spent Monday afternoon outlining details of Hunter Biden’s employment history at Burisma, a Ukrainian natural gas company. Bondi’s time at the podium followed Trump attorney Jay Sekulow’s defense to Senators, which scrutinized the relevance of Bolton’s new book confirming the Democratic allegations that Trump ordered Ukrainian military aid withheld to pressure that country to investigate Joe Biden, his political rival.
The new revelations were reported first by the New York Times and characterized by the Associated Press as “undercutting” a key Trump defense argument. Bolton wrote in the forthcoming book that Trump told him he wanted to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in security aid from Ukraine until it helped him with investigations into Biden, according to AP.
Trump tweeted on Monday that he never told Bolton such a thing. Republican Senators began splitting with their party leadership on the issue.
“John Bolton’s relevance to our decision has become increasingly clear,” Utah Senator Mitt Romney told AP.
Maine Senator Susan Collins later said she has always wanted “the opportunity for witnesses,” adding that the report about Bolton’s book “strengthens the case.”
Chuck Schumer, New York Senator and Minority Leader, said: We’re all staring a White House cover-up in the face.”
