John Bolton, President Trump’s former national security adviser, said Monday that he’s willing to testify in a Senate impeachment trial if he’s subpoenaed.
In a statement posted to his political action committee’s website, Bolton wrote, “I have concluded that, if the Senate issues a subpoena for my testimony, I am prepared to testify.”
It’s not yet clear though that the Senate trial will include witnesses, which is one of the reasons House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hasn’t transmitted the articles of impeachment to the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that the decision to call witnesses should be made after the trial begins, but Democrats want assurances.
Bolton’s announcement seemingly makes it harder for McConnell and other Republicans to resist calling witnesses. The White House won’t like that, especially since Bolton’s testimony is unlikely to cast Trump in a favorable light.
Last November, Bolton’s lawyer wrote in a letter to lawmakers that his client was “personally involved” in “many relevant meetings and conversations” that had not, at that point, been discussed in the House impeachment inquiry. One witness also told the House, in closed testimony, that Bolton objected to the pressure campaign in Ukraine being run by Rudy Giuliani and Trump’s European Union ambassador Gordon Sondland.
“Giuliani’s a hand grenade who’s going to blow everybody up,” Bolton said at one point, according to Fiona Hill, a former member of the National Security Council.
