During a press conference on Monday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) stated that former National Security Adviser John Bolton has “essentially” confirmed that President Trump “committed the offenses charged in the first article of impeachment.”
Schumer said that since Democrats first started calling for witnesses and documents in the Senate’s impeachment trial, “redacted emails were released that said there was clear direction from the president to hold the military assistance, the GAO concluded that the president broke the law in doing so, and new information from Mr. Parnas revealed a plot to remove a U.S. ambassador, and now, according to the New York Times, Ambassador Bolton wrote in his book that he was ordered by the president to continue freezing assistance until Ukraine announced the political investigations the president was seeking, including the investigation into the Bidens. This is stunning. It goes right to the heart of the charges against the president. Ambassador Bolton essentially confirms the president committed the offenses charged in the first article of impeachment.”
Schumer added, “If there was ever even a shred of logic left to not hear witnesses and review the documents, Mr. Bolton’s book just erased it.”
Later, Schumer stated that Bolton’s book isn’t under oath, and what the witnesses say “may be exculpatory to the president. What they say may be further condemning of the president. We don’t know.”
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