Dangerous Memoirs: How Bolton's Ex-National Security Advisor Book Can Affect Trump's Impeachment

Ex-adviser to the president of the United States on national security John Bolton claims that the freezing of military assistance for Kiev in the summer of 2019 was directly related to the demands of Donald Trump to investigate the activities of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter in Ukraine. This is stated in an upcoming publication of Bolton's book, the contents of which were published by The New York Times.

In his book, Bolton writes that Donald Trump allegedly informed him that the United States would not transfer the intended military assistance to Ukraine until the Kiev authorities launched an investigation into Biden’s corruption.

Recall that the issue of linking the provision of assistance to Ukraine in exchange for compromising evidence on Biden is one of the key impeachments of Trump - Democrats accuse the US president of “abusing his official powers to obtain personal and political benefits to the detriment of national security.”

According to the allegations, the US president allegedly suspended the allocation of $ 391 million in military assistance to Kiev, forcing Zelensky to begin the investigation. At the same time, one of the leaders of the Democratic Party of Biden Sr. is Trump's likely opponent in the 2020 presidential election. At the time of the telephone conversation between Zelensky and Trump, which discussed this agreement, John Bolton served as adviser to the President of the United States on national security and was a direct participant in these events.

Despite the fact that the book has not yet been published, Bolton's lawyer Chuck Cooper has confirmed that the information published in the media about its contents is true.

“Unfortunately, from an article published today in The New York Times, it became clear that the procedure for checking the book for the presence of classified information before its publication was in violation. As a result, the data contained in it were disclosed by persons who did not directly participate in the review of the manuscript, ”Cooper quoted The Wall Street Journal as saying.

Hopes of Democrats

The publication of the contents of Bolton's memoirs gave the Democrats a reason to again demand the call of witnesses to participate in the trial of the impeachment of Trump, which takes place in the Senate. This appeal was made by the leader of the Democrats in the upper house of the US Congress, Senator Chuck Schumer.

• US Senate impeachment meeting trump
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“Now it depends on the four Republican senators whether Mr. Bolton will be called as a witness ... and whether the key documents that we requested will be included to ensure that all necessary evidence is presented at the initial stage of the proceedings,” Schumer said.

It is worth noting that Bolton himself earlier refused to speak as a witness at the hearing, but in early January he changed his position and expressed his readiness to testify in the Senate as part of the Trump impeachment procedure.

Democrats also wanted to call witnesses to the acting head of the White House administration, Mick Mulvaney, and two other witnesses who were forbidden by the White House to attend hearings held at the initial stage of the impeachment process in Congress. However, not one of the witnesses who participated in the hearing of the House of Representatives directly confirmed that Donald Trump linked the transfer of assistance to Ukraine with the investigation against the Biden.

The President of the United States on Twitter denied Bolton’s allegations and suggested that the “drain” to The New York Times was connected with the desire of the former official to increase sales of his book.

I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens. In fact, he never complained about this at the time of his very public termination. If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book. With that being said, the ...

“I never told John Bolton that assistance to Ukraine was related to investigations against Democrats, including the Biden family. In fact, he did not complain about this at the time of his dismissal, when he received a lot of public attention. And if Bolton said that, then only to sell the book, ”the US president wrote on his Twitter.

Without mutual consent

Recall that Bolton was dismissed from his post as presidential adviser on national security on September 10, 2019. Trump justified such a decision by disagreeing with Bolton's proposals in the field of international relations, and also said that the ex-adviser "made very big mistakes."

“He did not find a common language with the people in the administration, whom I consider very important,” Trump noted.

In October 2019, information appeared in the American media that John Bolton plans to write a book about his work in the Trump administration, in which he will analyze both the personal qualities of the 45th president of the United States and his political course.

The media also reported that Bolton has repeatedly criticized the foreign policy of the Trump administration during closed seminars and meetings in which he participated as a speaker. In addition, in November, Bolton expressed dissatisfaction with the actions of the White House, which limited the ex-adviser's access to his Twitter account - this resource Bolton used during his work. The ex-official suggested that the restrictions could be related to the fact that "he has something to say."

At a press conference last week, President Trump said that John Bolton’s testimony in the Senate could be a “threat to national security." He also added: “I don’t know if we managed to part on a positive note. Probably not".

Bolton wants to avenge Trump for his dismissal, suggested Associate Professor of the Higher School of Economics Alexander Domrin.

“Bolton has long worked for the neocons who are opponents of the US president, so he was very grateful to Trump for pulling him out of oblivion. But after Bolton pushed the United States into military adventures with the DPRK, Venezuela, Iran, Trump realized that they were trying to use him as a puppet and sent the National Security Advisor to resign, ”the expert said.

At the same time, the fact of freezing military aid is not a matter of jurisdiction, Alexander Domrin believes.

“Congress, the manager of budgetary processes, approved the allocation of funds for military assistance to Ukraine, but Trump, as commander in chief, can independently manage this money, and can freeze it if something happens,” the political scientist emphasized.

The US Democratic Party expects Bolton’s testimony to help her seriously harm Donald Trump’s reputation, said Vladimir Bruter, an expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies

“Because of such media reports, Trump has to make excuses all the time, which is getting harder. The fact that impeachment fails does not matter, because Trump’s task is to win the upcoming elections. However, after such accusations by the US Democratic Party, it will be rather difficult for him to win the elections, ”the expert explained.

However, the testimony of the former national security adviser will not fundamentally affect the outcome of the impeachment trial in the Senate, Alexander Domrin believes.

“Bolton will just release a book for which he will receive multimillion-dollar fees, and this will end his activity in US history,” said the expert.

A similar point of view is shared by Vladimir Bruter.

“In the event that Bolton gets into the process, he can only say that Trump told him about the freezing of military assistance to Ukraine. But this, in essence, is not an official crime, but a recommendation. All Trump’s and Bolton’s conversations on this subject are arguments that can concern anything, ”the political scientist concluded.