Don't Get Your Hopes Up About John Bolton Testifying In The Senate

By Aliza Worthington — January 6, 2020

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton has issued a statement that he will testify in impeachment proceedings if he is subpoenaed by the Senate. Now that his aide, Dr. Charles Kupperman's case about the very same question with which he allegedly wrestled (which branch is more powerful?) has been dismissed and, thus resolved in favor of Congress, sure, he's game to appear before the Senate.

You know, the one controlled by Republicans and Mitch McConnell. The Senate whose leader has vowed to be impartial and run a sham trial designed, from the beginning, to exonerate the criminal president who continues his crime spree in plain sight.

That criminal president, though, who had Bolton so incensed by his "drug deal" and use of Rudy "Hand Grenade" Giuliani to conduct foreign diplomacy in Ukraine has perhaps won back a bit of favor with Bolton by tweeting us into a near-certain war with Iran. Bolton has never met a war he hasn't loved, so, how inclined is he right now to speak out against the man-child tantrum-tweeting his way into it?

Still, according to many, Mitch McConnell is facing pressure to hold an actual trial with witnesses called, and as Bolton is the most powerful, with the closest knowledge of the bribery and extortion aspects of what went down in Trump's attempted "Dirt On Biden for Military Aid" quid pro quo. Common consensus is that McConnell made a colossal blunder by openly stating his intentions to basically unilaterally exonerate Trump. Furthermore, there are a few senators in his party who may want to hear from Bolton, as well. (Now's the time to speak up, Romney...)

The most interesting idea came from John King and Michael Zeldin on CNN, though. In discussing these new developments with King and the former federal prosecutor floated the notion of Speaker Nancy Pelosi issuing a subpoena to Bolton, even though the House has already voted on the articles of impeachment. King wanted to know if the House would have to open a third article of impeachment in order to call Bolton to testify, or if the Speaker could call him now, under the articles already established.

ZELDIN: I think that she has the authority to do that, once she has oversight authority, to the articles of impeachment., talk about a continuing pattern of behavior. Both articles of impeachment say he did these specific things, and this was a pattern of behavior. So in this pattern of behavior language within those articles of impeachment, they could call Bolton, I believe, as a supplemental witness to that, and it would be further evidence of that which they've already impeached him on. I don't think they need a third article of impeachment of any kind. I think the way they were drafted was clever, and Bolton's testimony could fall within the structure of obstruction of Congress and abuse of authority, and that testimony would then be relevant to trial if Mitch McConnell was willing to hold a real trial.

KING: If he is willing. I just want to note John Bolton, a veteran of Washington, understands the Democrats control the House, the Republicans control the Senate. His statement says, "I have concluded if Senate issues a subpoena, I am prepared to testify." It does not answer the question of what he would do if the House came back with one. We may get that answer in the days ahead.

It's very hard to imagine, however, anyone in conservative and/or GOP circles doing the right thing. Given our situation, if we haven't learned from their behavior in the past, it's our own fault if we get our hopes up. So, big-f*ckin-deal. All John Bolton is telling the Democrats is that he's still playing Hard-To-Get.