Will Bolton Testify in Impeachment Trial?
Will Bolton Testify in Impeachment Trial?
Read the article from the New York Times by Maggie Haberman and Michael S. Schmidt about John Bolton’s book draft which is undergoing a security review by the White House: “Mr. Bolton would like to testify for several reasons, according to associates. He believes he has relevant information, and he has also expressed concern that if his account of the Ukraine affair emerges only after the trial, he will be accused of holding back to increase his book sales.”
Also read the essay from the New York Times “John Roberts Can Call Witnesses to Trump’s Trial. Will He?” by Neal K. Katyal, Joshua A. Geltzer and Mickey Edwards:
“…. the impeachment rules, like all trial systems, put a large thumb on the scale of issung subpoenas and place that power within the authority of the judge, in this case the chief justice. Most critically, it would take a two-thirds vote — not a majority — of the Senate to overrule that. This week, Democrats can and should ask the chief justice to issue subpoenas on his authority so that key witnesses of relevance like John Bolton and Mick Mulvaney appear in the Senate, and the Senate should subpoena all relevant documents as well.”
Also read analysis on executive privilege and Bolton’s testimony, by Harold Hongju Koh, Rosa Hayes, Annie Himes, Dana Khabbaz, Michael Loughlin and Mark Stevens from Just Security:
“First, judicial precedent does not condone the extension of executive privilege to former officials like Bolton in the context of a Senate impeachment trial. Second, Trump may not invoke national security privilege with respect to Bolton’s and others’ information regarding the president’s conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Third, even if Trump could, any such claim of privilege has now likely been waived by the actions of the president, Bolton and others. Finally, this uncontroversial legal issue should not be litigated in courts. Chief Justice Roberts should simply cite the precedent detailed here to require the testimony as part of his judicial management of the impeachment trial.”