February 5, 2020

Trump’s Bolton Nightmare Is All But Certain to Drag on After He’s Acquitted

Nadler confirmed that the House is leaning toward subpoenaing the former national security adviser.

Andrew Harrer/CNP/ZUMA

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The Republican-controlled Senate may be just hours away from acquitting President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, but the Ukraine scandal at the center of the president’s impeachment trial is showing no signs of abating.

On Wednesday, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler confirmed that the House is “likely” to subpoena former national security adviser John Bolton to testify about his direct knowledge of the scandal. That news comes on the heels of last week’s Senate vote to block witnesses, including Bolton, from being called in the trial, despite mounting reports detailing several bombshell allegations Bolton is prepared to make against Trump in his upcoming memoir. Those allegations reportedly include Bolton’s claim that Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine into opening investigations into his political rivals started much earlier than previously known.

Some background: House Democrats had invited Bolton to testify in their impeachment proceedings, but the former national security adviser declined to show up after the White House ordered him not to. Democrats eventually chose not to subpoena Bolton before voting to impeach Trump, due to the lengthy court battle it would have sparked.

Now, with Trump’s acquittal all but certain today, news of a likely Bolton subpoena might be cold comfort for Democrats and critics of the president. But it does ensure that embarrassing, potentially damaging allegations against Trump will continue to dominate news cycles ahead. 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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