Former national security adviser John Bolton says in a manuscript that President Donald Trump wanted to freeze military aid to Ukraine until Kiev investigates its potential presidential rival, writes the New York Times on Sunday .
The Democrats quickly reacted to this article in the American daily to demand that John Bolton, and others in important positions in the Trump administration, be summoned to testify at the trial of the billionaire's current removal from the Senate. They also want Mick Mulvaney, the president's chief of staff, to testify.
Referring to the unpublished work of John Bolton, the NYT claims that the former real estate mogul had told his advisor that he would not pay $ 391 million in aid to Ukraine as long as the Ukrainian authorities would not help him by launching an investigation into the democrat Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who sat on the board of directors of a Ukrainian gas group.
Trump blocked demand for Bolton's testimony
The president's lawyers claim that there was no condition for the payment of the aid, arguing that its freezing was independent of the requests for an investigation into the Biden. But John Bolton's manuscript would contradict this defense. The latter has already indicated that he is ready to testify if he receives a summons.
Democrat parliamentarian Adam Schiff, who is leading the charge against Donald Trump's impeachment trial, said on Twitter that Donald Trump "blocked our request for the testimony of John Bolton." "Now we see the reason: Bolton directly contradicts the heart of the president's defense," he said.
For the President of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, the Republicans' refusal to hear John Bolton or other witnesses and documents is "now even less justifiable". "The choice is clear: our Constitution or a cover-up," she added.
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