Some Republican senators are privately pushing the White House for information on who in the Trump administration had visibility into John Bolton’s book manuscript over the last month, the New York Times reports.
The senators “feel blindsided.”
Some Republican senators are privately pushing the White House for information on who in the Trump administration had visibility into John Bolton’s book manuscript over the last month, the New York Times reports.
The senators “feel blindsided.”
Laurence Tribe: “A horrible connection if it pans out: On Dec. 30, Trump learned what Bolton’s book would say. Bolton has been pushing war with Iran for years. Iran’s General Soleimani was in U.S. sights for years. Trump suddenly ordered his assassination on Jan. 3, four days after seeing the book.”
Aaron Blake: “The nightmare scenario for the GOP is that they give Trump the quick and witness-free acquittal that he apparently desires, but then information like Bolton’s keeps coming out. Bolton now suggests Trump was indeed telling people privately that the withheld military aid was part of a quid pro quo — a quid pro quo which European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland testified that he communicated to the Ukrainians. This is something Trump’s team has strenuously denied, including at the impeachment trial. What if Bolton isn’t the only person Trump told this to who might suddenly contradict them?”
“However closely this has already been tied to Trump, it can always be tied more closely. Bolton’s upcoming book is a great example of how the hastily assembled walls the Trump team have built around its defense can quickly crumble — and in some cases already have.”
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President Trump falsely claimed that House Democrats never sought testimony from former National Security Adviser John Bolton during their impeachment probe.
Said Trump: “The Democrat controlled House never even asked John Bolton to testify. It is up to them, not up to the Senate!”
The House Intelligence Committee did ask Bolton to testify, but he declined to testify on instructions from the White House.
Before last night’s report on John Bolton’s forthcoming book, Republican leaders were confident that they would defeat the vote on subpoenaing witnesses in President Trump’s impeachment trail this week, CNN reports.
But now, it is less certain, according to three GOP sources.
For members: Four Bombshells from John Bolton’s Draft Manuscript
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA.) endorsed Joe Biden for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, citing what he said was the former vice president’s ability to build a coalition within the party and proven foreign-policy credentials, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Washington Post reporter Felicia Sonmez was suspended by the newspaper after she tweeted a link on Sunday to a years-old story about the Kobe Bryant rape case just hours after the basketball legend and his daughter were killed in a helicopter crash, the Daily Mail reports.
Republican sources tell Axios that party leaders and the White House will still try to resist witnesses because, as one top aide put it, “there is a sense in the Senate that if one witness is allowed, the floodgates are open.”
Said one White House aide: “If Bolton says stuff that implicates, say Mick Mulvaney or Mike Pompeo, then calls for them will intensify.”
Politico: “President Trump is already itching to broadcast the series finale of his impeachment. In recent days, he and top White House aides have been considering how he should celebrate his presumed acquittal by the Republican-controlled Senate and whether he should deliver a rare Oval Office address to mark the occasion.”
Playbook: “Republicans have done a good job during this process projecting confidence in their mastery of the situation, and their ability to deliver for the president.”
“But as of late Sunday, our GOP sources said they could not predict what was going to happen now with witnesses, and the Republican Conference lunch today will be key in determining the state of play. In other words, these top-level sources were allowing that things may have changed. We have yet to see if Republicans will brush off this new development, or whether it will push enough of them to vote for witnesses.”
“Bolton is not Lev Parnas or one of these other characters who has sprouted up in the Trump era. He’s a through-and-through conservative who was so far to the right that George W. Bush had to wait for recess to make him his U.N. envoy. He’s known to members of the Senate.”
“Here’s the dilemma for Republicans now: If you’re one of the Republicans who were already uncomfortable with this president, how do you vote to not call Bolton after seeing this? Remember: Bolton is publishing an entire book, and so far we know only what he’s said on Ukraine — not everything else he’s seen.”
John Bolton’s bombshell book that leaked last night now has a title: The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir.
It is scheduled for release on March 17.
Washington Post-ABC News poll: “With just over nine months until Election Day, Americans see Trump as a slight favorite for reelection, with 49% expecting him to win and 43% predicting that his Democratic challenger will prevail.”
“The Senate needs to hear from Bolton. The American people deserve to hear from Bolton. If we can’t get Bolton let’s get a subpoena for the book!”
— Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL), on Twitter.
A new Emerson College/7 News Poll in Iowa finds Bernie Sanders leading the Democratic presidential race with 30%, followed by Joe Biden at 21%, Amy Klobuchar 13%, Elizabeth Warren at 11% and Pete Buttigieg at 10%.
They are followed by Tom Steyer and Tulsi Gabbard both at 5%.
A USA Today/Suffolk poll finds Biden leading with 25%, followed by Sanders at 19%, Buttigieg at 18%, Warren at 13% and Klobucahr at 6%.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor responds in the New York Times to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s sarcastic question in private to an NPR reporter: “Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?”
“To support Ukraine is to support a rules-based international order that avoided war among major powers in Europe for seven decades. It is to support democracy over autocracy. It is to support freedom over unfreedom. Most Americans do.”
After the most recent set of polls this weekend, Michael Bloomberg has now surpassed Pete Buttigieg in the RealClearPolitics national polling average and is now running fourth behind Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Earlier for members: Bloomberg’s Window May Soon Open
BuzzFeed News: “With the series of polls showing Sanders at the top of the field in the first states — two more came out on Sunday alone, along with a national poll that has Sanders and Biden nearly tied — there is a feeling of palpable anticipation inside and around the campaign over what backlash, if any, might be coming.”
“Some rivals are already trying to capitalize on establishment anxiety. Pete Buttigieg asked supporters twice on Saturday to fend off Sanders by contributing to the mayor’s campaign.”
Said Sanders at a rally: “We are taking on the Democratic establishment, and all across the country, let me tell you that the big money interests are getting very nervous. They’re looking at recent polls in New Hampshire and in Iowa and they’re saying ‘Oh my god, Sanders can win!'”
Washington Post: Sanders faces barrage of attacks from rivals as polls show him surging in early states.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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