US President Donald Trump’s defense team, seeking a speedy acquittal at his US Senate impeachment trial, on Wednesday resisted Democratic efforts to have former national security adviser John Bolton testify, arguing that it could prolong the divisive proceedings for months.
Trump lashed out at Bolton on Twitter, saying his former aide was coming out with potentially damaging allegations in an upcoming “nasty & untrue book,” because he was fired from his White House position.
Bolton reportedly claims in the book that Trump told him military aid to Ukraine was tied to Kiev investigating his potential rival former US vice president Joe Biden — the charge at the heart of the two articles of impeachment approved on Dec. 18 by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.
Photo: Reuters
The fight over Bolton’s testimony intensified as the senators who would decide Trump’s fate began directly questioning Democratic prosecutors and White House lawyers.
Taking turns by party, senators spent 10 hours submitting written questions, which were then read aloud to the chamber by US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over just the third impeachment trial of a president in US history.
They were to return yesterday to pose further questions to the White House defense lawyers and the seven House prosecutors seeking Trump’s removal from office for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Senate Democratic minority leader Chuck Schumer said it might be an “uphill fight” to garner enough Republican support to issue a subpoena to Bolton, who has said he is ready to testify.
Republicans hold a 53-to-47 seat edge in the Senate and four Republicans would need to side with the Democrats to compel Bolton to appear.
Trump called on Republicans to reject a push for witnesses when the issue comes up for a vote today and blasted Bolton, whom he fired in September last year.
“Frankly, if I listened to him, we would be in World War Six by now,” Trump said. “[He] goes out and IMMEDIATELY writes a nasty & untrue book. All Classified National Security. Who would do this?”
Echoing the views of many of his Republican colleagues, US Senator John Barrasso came out against further witnesses and urged an early end to the trial.
“America has heard enough,” Barrasso said. “A majority of Americans are saying this is a waste of time, because they know the president is not going to be removed.”
Opinion polls on whether Trump should be removed are evenly divided, but a two-thirds majority — 67 senators — is needed to convict the president and Trump is virtually assured of being acquitted.
US Representative Adam Schiff, the chief Democratic prosecutor, said Bolton’s testimony was essential to a “fair trial.”
“Don’t wait for the book,” Schiff told the senators sitting as trial jurors. “This case is overwhelmingly clear without John Bolton, but if you have any question about it you can erase all doubt.”
White House deputy counsel Patrick Philbin said that the House had not subpoenaed Bolton and his appearance would present “grave security issues.”
“He has all of the nation’s secrets,” Philbin said.
The White House would seek to prevent Bolton’s testimony and the matter would end up in a lengthy legal battle in the courts, he added.
“This institution will be effectively paralyzed for months on end,” he said.
One of Trump’s lawyers, Harvard professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz, advanced an argument that Trump’s actions were not impeachable, because the president believed his re-election was in the public interest.
“Every public official I know believes that his election is in the public interest,” Dershowitz said. “If a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.”
Schiff dismissed Dershowitz’ argument, saying it boils down to believing a president is above the law.
The Burmese junta has said that detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is “in good health,” a day after her son said he has received little information about the 80-year-old’s condition and fears she could die without him knowing. In an interview in Tokyo earlier this week, Kim Aris said he had not heard from his mother in years and believes she is being held incommunicado in the capital, Naypyidaw. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was detained after a 2021 military coup that ousted her elected civilian government and sparked a civil war. She is serving a
REVENGE: Trump said he had the support of the Syrian government for the strikes, which took place in response to an Islamic State attack on US soldiers last week The US launched large-scale airstrikes on more than 70 targets across Syria, the Pentagon said on Friday, fulfilling US President Donald Trump’s vow to strike back after the killing of two US soldiers. “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.” The US Central Command said that fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery targeted ISIS infrastructure and weapon sites. “All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned
Seven wild Asiatic elephants were killed and a calf was injured when a high-speed passenger train collided with a herd crossing the tracks in India’s northeastern state of Assam early yesterday, local authorities said. The train driver spotted the herd of about 100 elephants and used the emergency brakes, but the train still hit some of the animals, Indian Railways spokesman Kapinjal Kishore Sharma told reporters. Five train coaches and the engine derailed following the impact, but there were no human casualties, Sharma said. Veterinarians carried out autopsies on the dead elephants, which were to be buried later in the day. The accident site
‘NO AMNESTY’: Tens of thousands of people joined the rally against a bill that would slash the former president’s prison term; President Lula has said he would veto the bill Tens of thousands of Brazilians on Sunday demonstrated against a bill that advanced in Congress this week that would reduce the time former president Jair Bolsonaro spends behind bars following his sentence of more than 27 years for attempting a coup. Protests took place in the capital, Brasilia, and in other major cities across the nation, including Sao Paulo, Florianopolis, Salvador and Recife. On Copacabana’s boardwalk in Rio de Janeiro, crowds composed of left-wing voters chanted “No amnesty” and “Out with Hugo Motta,” a reference to the speaker of the lower house, which approved the bill on Wednesday last week. It is
RSS