Sen. Doug Jones called on Sunday for subpoenaing John Bolton’s upcoming book if the former national security adviser is not able to testify in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.
"The Senate needs to hear from Bolton, the Democratic senator wrote in a tweet. “The American people deserve to hear from Bolton. If we can’t get Bolton let’s get a subpoena for the book!"
Jones made the comments soon after The New York Times reported that Bolton writes in his upcoming book that the president wanted to tie up aid to Ukraine approved by Congress until Kyiv agreed to help investigate Trump’s political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, for alleged corruption.
The report was immediately used by Democrats to push their demand anew to allow the testimony of new witnesses or the presentation of new documents in the impeachment trial, a decision the Senate is expected to make this week, according to The Hill.
The seven House impeachment managers issued a joint statement, Politco reported, stating that the report “confirms what we already know” and “directly contradicts the heart” of the Trump defense team’s arguments.
The managers added that “There is no defensible reason to wait until his book is published, when the information he has to offer is critical to the most important decision senators must now make — whether to convict the president of impeachable offenses.”
Democrats need the votes of at least four Senate Republicans to allow for additional witnesses and documents. The White House instructed Bolton and other officials not to tesitfy during the House impeachment inquiry, and the GOP is now against the introduction of more witnesses or documents.