President Trump waved off the possibility that his former national security advisor John Bolton’s testimony in the upcoming Senate impeachment trial would be of any consequence saying Bolton “would know nothing about what we’re talking about,” in regards to Trump’s phone call with the president of Ukraine back in July.
“He would know nothing about what we’re talking about because if you know, the Ukrainian government came out with a very strong statement, no pressure, no anything, and that’s from the boss, that’s from the president of Ukraine,” Trump said during a press conference following a bilateral meeting with the prime minister of Greece on Tuesday. “The foreign minister came out with a statement that was equally as strong.”
Trump has steadfastly denied the charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress stemming from a July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which House lawmakers have asserted that Trump attempted to pressure the foreign nation to open an investigation into 2020 Democratic rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter in exchange for military aid.
“Frankly, if you look at it, and you look at everything, all they have to do is read the transcripts,” Trump said. “You take a look, not just at one, you take a look at two transcripts, they were absolutely perfect, there was absolutely nothing done wrong, there was no false statement.”
Trump also added that the military aid to Ukraine that was held up as a result of the phone call “got there two or three weeks ahead of schedule, long before it was supposed to be there. There was absolutely nothing done wrong.”
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The two articles of impeachment against Trump have yet to be transmitted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to the Senate for a full impeachment trial but Bolton has been a coveted witness by Senate Democrats, along with three other administration officials, including acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.
The GOP majority in the Senate has held out on agreeing to introduce witnesses at trial but on Monday Bolton publicly expressed his willingness to testify if he is subpoenaed by the Senate.
Trump responded to Bolton’s agreeance telling reporters that the decision will be “up to the lawyers. It will be up to the Senate, and we’ll see how they feel.”
During the House impeachment inquiry, Bolton’s lawyer, Charles Cooper, previously told House lawyers that his client was a part of “many relevant meetings and conversations” central to the investigation into Trump. Further testimony by U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor and former top White House expert on Russia, Fiona Hill, indicated that Bolton was wary of alleged plans to leverage a White House visit from Zelensky for a Ukrainian probe into Biden and opposed to the contents of the July 25 call that led to an anonymous whistleblower complaint catalyzing the impeachment inquiry.
Bolton was invited to testify before the House Intelligence Committee but did not attend his scheduled deposition, and the committee did not take the step to issue a subpoena for his testimony.