Just after midnight last night, Trump responded to the New York Times article alleging that Bolton said Trump didn’t want to release the aid until the Ukrainians “helped with investigations into Democrats including the Bidens”. Trump said it’s not true:
I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens. In fact, he never complained about this at the time of his very public termination. If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book. With that being said, the…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2020
…transcripts of my calls with President Zelensky are all the proof that is needed, in addition to the fact that President Zelensky & the Foreign Minister of Ukraine said there was no pressure and no problems. Additionally, I met with President Zelensky at the United Nations…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2020
…(Democrats said I never met) and released the military aid to Ukraine without any conditions or investigations – and far ahead of schedule. I also allowed Ukraine to purchase Javelin anti-tank missiles. My Administration has done far more than the previous Administration.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2020
A couple of hours ago Trump added that it was the House’s job to get Bolton to testify and they never asked:
The Democrat controlled House never even asked John Bolton to testify. It is up to them, not up to the Senate!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2020
The latter he said in response to Democrats trying to up the pressure to hear from Bolton. The problem is that Bolton is bound by executive privilege so even if he were to be subpoenaed, he couldn’t say anything. It would take the courts intervening to break executive privilege and I seriously doubt the Senate would even go down that road, especially when the House refused to even subpoena Bolton. At the end of the day I think all of this is going to be moot.