It’s got at least two Republicans wavering and the rest of them freaking out. Mind you, I think Bolton is a sleazebag and I don’t trust anything he says until I understand his agenda. But it has made things a bit more interesting.
I mean, nobody who is intellectually honest and not in extreme denial who watched a significant portion of last week’s presentation can come out of it concluding anything other than impeachable guilt, but McConnell has a stranglehold on Republicans, who in future years will be coming up with all kinds of apologies for their votes. Some key voices have been kind of low if not silent of late. We all know that the President tried to shake down another country by withholding Congressionally approved aid to his own personal benefit rather than to pursue national foreign policy interests. He and his cronies did it. And he will not be removed from office for it.
So the question is – what will voters have to say about it in the fall?
From TPM’s impeachment live blog:
Furious Republican senators were calling the White House this morning to tell them how they were blindsided by Bolton’s manuscript, according to NYT reporter Maggie Haberman.
The senators also reportedly demanded to know which administration officials knew about Bolton’s bombshell account, given that Bolton’s lawyer gave the White House a copy of the book on December 30.
Schiff told reporters that he’s “pleased” that the senators are “reconsidering” their refusal to allow witnesses.
Per a CNN reporter, Graham added to his other comments that it’s “important” to get the manuscript of Bolton’s book into the proceedings.
Manu Raju
✔@mkraju
Lindsey Graham: “What we have to do here is evaluate (Bolton) manuscript and see if it’s a reason to add to the record,” he said, per @byrdinator. Asked if he would support a subpoena to get the manuscript: “I want to know what’s in the manuscript, yeah, I think that’s important”
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) said that he wouldn’t need to hear from Bolton, or any witnesses, unless they’d “change the outcome” of the trial.
It’s quite an admission that there is a predetermined outcome at all — Blunt, like the rest of the senators, is, in theory, supposed to be an impartial juror. Though many senators have not acted that way, Blunt is candidly admitting here that potential first-hand evidence of Trump linking Ukraine aid to investigations into his Democratic rivals would not change the outcome of the trial — aka, acquittal at the hands of a Republican majority.
From a Bloomberg reporter:
Laura Litvan
✔@LauraLitvan
Roy Blunt says he’s unlikely to vote to call Bolton.
“Unless there’s a witness who’s going to change the outcome, I can’t imagine why we’d want to stretch this out for weeks and months. And if we call any witnesses who are subject to privilege, it would take weeks and months.”
Bolton’s book, titled “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,” will be released on March 17, according to Amazon.
Hmm, wonder what room Bolton’s referring to — could it have something to do with the giant oval on the cover?
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, President Trump claimed that he hadn’t seen Bolton’s manuscript that further bolsters his Ukraine quid pro quo.
“I have not seen the manuscript, but I can tell you nothing was ever said to John Bolton,” Trump said, before reiterating that he hasn’t seen a manuscript nor Bolton’s book.
Sohum Parlance II 
6 comments
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January 27, 2020 at 12:28 pm
John
Like you I trust nothing Bolton says and never have. He is a loose cannon and a warmonger. He also promotes himself a lot, has never been a teem player and has been a thorne for every President that brings him in their administration.
He was also fired by Pres Trump and is promoting his new book.
BTW, have you heard about the 3 Democrat Senators who were wavering after hearing the President’s team on Saturday ?.
January 27, 2020 at 12:34 pm
Mitch
He also took notes at meetings. Contemporaneous notes.
January 27, 2020 at 12:35 pm
Mitch
But we shouldn’t bring those into evidence, right. I mean, no one should want to muddy the waters. Trump’s so clearly innocent of everything, even the stuff he’s been found guilty of.
January 27, 2020 at 1:00 pm
Eric Kirk
John, I’m aware that Manchin and Jones have to walk a tight line and they are saying that they will wait for the trial to conclude before making any decision. Both praised Schiff. I’m unaware of any comments they made after Saturday’s presentation of conspiracy theories. It appears that Trump’s attorneys are deftly avoiding the Bolton issue.
Personally, I hope they just wrap it up and vote for their acquittal. Right now there isn’t even the appearance of a fair process. Allowing witnesses would only help to mitigate that, as they aren’t going to listen to anything anyone says anyway.
I do find it interesting that Trump has had the manuscript since Dec 30. If I was a Republican Senator, I’d be furious right now. But then I would be voting to remove him from office.
January 28, 2020 at 11:16 am
Henchman Of Justice
Yes, it is more sleazebag and more interesting… and another example of he said she said… like everything thus far in the impeachment Saga…
January 28, 2020 at 11:20 am
Henchman Of Justice
Mitch is also fooled by note taking…
… in Mitch’s world, the note is all true because the note was documented as being a note that was taken at a certain time and place… forget about the fact that the note was really not a note of what may have been said but rather a note of what the person was orchestrating as the architect of false evidence in that note that they were going to bring out at a later point in time using the fact that a note exists, but not using the fact that the note was not accurate to begin with from a known sleazebag, and quite possibly a flat out lie in order to use in mischievous ways later… like after being fired and then wanting a book published for profit after the fact…