Former White House chief of staff John Kelly said he believes John Bolton on his version of events about the Ukraine military aid affair.
“If John Bolton says that in the book, I believe John Bolton,” the retired Marine Corps general told a crowd Monday evening in Sarasota, Florida, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Leaks from Bolton’s unpublished book claim, among other things, that President Trump told his former national security adviser that nearly $400 million in security aid to Ukraine was being withheld until Kyiv agreed to assist with investigations into the president’s political rivals.
Trump denied the claim.
“I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens. … If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book,” Trump tweeted just after midnight Monday.
Democrats, who have levied two Ukraine-related articles of impeachment against Trump, have used the book draft leak to push centrist Republican senators to vote in favor of summoning Bolton and other Trump administration officials to testify during the Senate trial. The leak also prompted speculation about who is behind the leak, with Trump allies pointing to the National Security Council, where Bolton’s book draft had been submitted for review.
Kelly, who served as Trump’s chief of staff from July 2017 to January 2019, worked in the White House at the same time as Bolton for about nine months. He called Bolton an “honest guy” and said he supports calling witnesses.
“I mean, half of Americans think this process is purely political and shouldn’t be happening, but since it is happening, the majority of Americans would like to hear the whole story,” Kelly said.
“So I think if there are people that could contribute to this, either innocence or guilt … I think they should be heard,” Kelly said. “I think some of the conversations seem to me to be very inappropriate, but I wasn’t there. But there are people that were there that ought to be heard from.”
