Sen. Ted Cruz recommended that Republicans should allow former national security adviser John Bolton to testify in President Trump’s Senate impeachment trial in order to call a witness of their own to defend the president.
The Texas Republican on Tuesday pitched the idea of “witness reciprocity” to GOP leadership in the chamber on Tuesday after Senate Democrats announced last month they wish to subpoena Bolton, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, and other top aides to the president.
His proposed strategy would mean that if Democrats call their witnesses, Republicans could call their own as well, such as former Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, and the whistleblower at the center of the impeachment process.
“We’ll be dealing with the witness issue at the appropriate time into the trial. And I think it’s certainly appropriate to point out that both sides would want to call witnesses if they wanted to hear from them,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said about Cruz’s idea, according to Fox News. “So if you get to that issue, I can’t imagine that only the witnesses our Democratic colleagues want to call will be called.”
House Democrats passed two articles of impeachment against Trump late last year for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress after Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. During the call, Trump asked Zelensky to “do us a favor” and investigate corruption allegations against Biden and his son’s business dealings in the country. Crucial military aid to Ukraine was then temporarily held up.
Bolton, according to aides familiar with the White House’s relations to Ukraine, was uncomfortable with what he called a “drug deal” of a policy on Ukraine.
Trump has publicly criticized Bolton since he left the administration and insisted he did “nothing wrong” during what he calls a “perfect” phone call with Zelensky.
In fact, my views on Venezuela, and especially Cuba, were far stronger than those of John Bolton. He was holding me back! https://t.co/FUGc02xiac
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 12, 2019
Republicans and defenders of Trump have argued that the president was merely trying to root out corruption and not use military aid as a bargaining chip to achieve a political goal. Cruz has said the Democrats have no case against Trump and are just “making this up,” and McConnell has downplayed the allegations against Trump as weak and leading to a “slap-dash impeachment.”
Citing what she deems to be an unfair impending Senate trial, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi withheld the articles from the Senate but is slated to send them to the Senate this week. A trial in the Republican-led chamber is expected to begin next Tuesday.
