Trump’s lawyers continued their opening arguments in the impeachment trial as questions remained over whether the Senate would call John Bolton, the former national security adviser, to testify.
A handful of Republican senators signalled they were opening to calling Bolton to testify after the former official reportedly claimed in a manuscript of his forthcoming book that Trump directly tied Ukraine’s military assistance to investigations of Democrats.
Ken Starr, one of the president’s lawyers who led the investigation that led to Bill Clinton’s impeachment, ironically warned of the political dangers of impeachment becoming “normalized.”
The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could allow its “public charge” rule to go into effect as legal battles over the controversial immigration policy play out in the courts.
Trump said he would announce the administration’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan tomorrow, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Netanyahu’s election opponent, Benny Gantz, visit Washington.
Reactions that follow:
Republicans’ lack of outrage — even after Bolton’s smoking-gun evidence — is outrageous, @MaxBoot says https://t.co/wlxzK2wwZS
— Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) January 27, 2020
After the lightning bolt of the Bolton draft, it was completely surreal to sit on the Senate Floor & hear absolutely nothing about it.
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) January 27, 2020
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: "We want Bolton. We want Mulvaney. They heard from the president himself. We can solve Mr. Sekulow's problem of not having witnesses who heard from the president himself by having Bolton, by having Mulvaney…" https://t.co/bvAUwIySc2 pic.twitter.com/vNOZTgQ7Dm
— ABC News (@ABC) January 27, 2020
"Unless there's a witness that's going to change the outcome, I can't imagine why we'd want to stretch this out for weeks and months," said Sen. Roy Blunt. "And if we call any witnesses that are subject to privilege, it would take weeks and months." https://t.co/W8Wm2Mvw11
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 27, 2020
My God, the Republican responses to the Bolton bombshell are just shockingly weak and disingenuous. Reupping this piece and thread: https://t.co/YyjwVvzOy2
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) January 27, 2020
Trump defense lawyers now trying very hard to restore Republican boredom to a trial rocked by John Bolton.
— Lawrence O'Donnell (@Lawrence) January 27, 2020
McConnell would go on to underscore the *insanity* of having a whole presentation about Rudy Giuliani, having Ken Starr be Team Trump's "expert witness" on (OMG) restraint in impeachment proceedings, having Purpura pretend for 20 minutes that Bolton's bombshell never happened….
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 27, 2020
But, no doubt, to be thorough and comprehensive, you would like senators to hear from Bolton, right? (BTW, the White House has seen the manuscript.) https://t.co/80KCmgyknZ
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) January 27, 2020
– GUARDIAN
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