Some Senate Democrats are considering accepting a proposal first voiced by GOP Sen. Ted Cruz to trade witnesses in President Trump’s impeachment trial.
Cruz proposed what he called “witness reciprocity” to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who was receptive to the idea, last week as a potential means to secure testimony from Hunter Biden. Several Senate Democrats are now considering embracing the proposal in order to get former national security adviser John Bolton to testify in the trial, according to the Washington Post.
Bolton has said he is willing to testify in the Senate trial if subpoenaed. The Democrats weighing Cruz’s proposal believe that Bolton, with firsthand knowledge of Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, is worth hearing from even if Republicans plan to call former Vice President Joe Biden or his son to testify over alleged corruption.
The Democrats believe that Bolton’s testimony could contain damning new details related to Trump’s July 25, 2019, phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The lawmakers also think that calling one of the Bidens to the witness stand could be far less damaging to Democrats than Republicans hope and may even backfire.
House Democrats considered subpoenaing Bolton during the impeachment investigation last year but decided against the move in order to speed the process forward. Bolton had said that if he were subpoenaed and the White House claimed executive privilege over his testimony, he would let the courts decide which order he should follow.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi transmitted articles of impeachment over to the Senate last week after weeks of delay in a failed attempt to influence Senate procedures for the trial. Pelosi’s gambit failed after McConnell threatened to hold a vote to dismiss the articles outright if she continued to hold them up.
