Rep. Adam Schiff admonished John Bolton, President Trump’s former national security adviser, for revealing allegations about Trump’s conduct in a tell-all book instead of testifying before Congress during last year’s impeachment proceedings.
“Bolton’s staff were asked to testify before the House to Trump’s abuses, and did. They had a lot to lose and showed real courage,” the House Intelligence Committee chairman tweeted Wednesday. “When Bolton was asked, he refused, and said he’d sue if subpoenaed. Instead, he saved it for a book.”
He added: “[He] may be an author, but he’s no patriot.”
Schiff was the lead impeachment manager during the Senate trial, which ended in the GOP-led Senate, acquitting the president on two Ukraine-related charges.
Bolton’s staff were asked to testify before the House to Trump’s abuses, and did. They had a lot to lose and showed real courage.
When Bolton was asked, he refused, and said he’d sue if subpoenaed. Instead, he saved it for a book.
Bolton may be an author, but he’s no patriot.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) June 17, 2020
The California Democrat was reacting to leaks from Bolton’s unreleased book, The Room Where it Happened, reported by multiple news outlets on Wednesday.
Bolton claims, among other things, that Trump told him “scumbag journalists” should be “executed” and that the president encouraged Chinese leader Xi Jinping to move forward with concentration camps to house China’s Uighur population.
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Bolton on Tuesday, asking a judge to stop its release, set for June 23, because it contains classified material.
Bolton offered to testify in the impeachment trial earlier this year only if the Republican-led Senate issued a subpoena against him, which the upper chamber declined to do. The Democrat-led House had asked Bolton to testify but, after he refused, declined to issue a subpoena to compel his testimony through the courts.
In his book, Bolton accused Trump of giving “personal favors to dictators he liked.”
“Had Democratic impeachment advocates not been so obsessed with their Ukraine blitzkrieg in 2019, had they taken the time to inquire more systematically about Trump’s behavior across his entire foreign policy, the impeachment outcome might well have been different,” Bolton wrote.
