Sen. Lindsey Graham said he wants to see the manuscript of former national security adviser John Bolton’s new book after details from it were leaked to the press.
The South Carolina Republican spoke to reporters on Monday, the second day of President Trump’s impeachment team’s defense, according to the Hill. Reports on Sunday said Bolton’s forthcoming memoir claims that Trump told him Ukraine would not receive U.S. military aid until the country launched investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
“I think what we have to do here is evaluate the manuscript,” Graham said. “I want to know what’s in the manuscript.”
Graham did not say whether or not he would support a move to subpoena the manuscript.
“Apparently, the White House has it. You can ask for it,” Graham said.
The reported claims from Bolton’s book have fueled Democrats’ calls to subpoena Bolton to testify in Trump’s Senate impeachment trial. Graham, who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that if additional evidence not considered in the House is brought forward in the Senate, it would be done in a “balanced way.”
“The White House said there was no direct evidence of communication. Maybe this suggests that one person said there might be. What I’ve said all along is, if you’re going to add to the record, we’re going to do it in a balanced way,” Graham said. “If we add to the record, we’re going to call Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, and all these other people.”
House Democrats refused to subpoena Bolton during the chamber’s investigation to impeach Trump as investigators did not want to fight in court to force Bolton’s testimony, which the White House planned to block using executive privilege.
Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard professor and Trump legal team member, addressed the Bolton book claim while defending the president on the floor of the Senate on Monday.
“If the president, any president, were to have done what the Times reported about the content of the Bolton manuscript, that would not constitute an impeachable offense,” Dershowitz said.
“Let me repeat: Nothing in the Bolton revelations, even if true, would rise to the level of an abuse of power or an impeachable offense. That is clear from the history. That is clear from the language of the Constitution,” Dershowitz continued. “You cannot turn conduct that is not impeachable into impeachable conduct simply by using words like ‘quid pro quo’ and ‘personal benefit.'”
