October 30, 2019

House Democrats Ask John Bolton to Testify in Impeachment Inquiry

Viktor Tolochko/AP

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Congressional investigators have asked John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, to testify next week as part of the ongoing impeachment inquiry.

The New York Times and the Daily Beast reported on Wednesday that House Democrats summoned Bolton for a voluntary deposition on November 7.

Witnesses in the impeachment inquiry have described Bolton as alarmed by the aggressive efforts of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and EU ambassador Gordon Sondland to pressure Ukraine into investigating Trump’s domestic political rivals. Fiona Hill, Trump’s former top Russia adviser, testified that Bolton told her to tell the National Security Council’s top attorney about the back-channeling. “Giuliani’s a hand grenade who’s going to blow everybody up,” Hill said Bolton told her.

Trump pushed Bolton, a hardline foreign policy hawk, out of the administration in September amid major policy disagreements.

A spokesperson for House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) declined to comment bout the deposition request. It’s unclear whether Bolton will comply with it. Investigators have also called on former top NSC attorney John Eisenberg and a deputy, Michael Ellis, for voluntary depositions on November 4.  

Update: John Bolton’s attorney Charles Cooper says the former national security adviser won’t show up to testify voluntarily. 

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