My latest in PJ Media:
Revenge, the saying goes, is a dish best served cold, but John Bolton’s strike back at President Trump after being fired as National Security Adviser is the hottest thing in the news today. According to a report in The New York Times, Trump told Bolton “that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats including the Bidens.” Nor is this simply the Times trying to rally the dispirited pro-impeachment troops for one last charge in their multiply discredited impeachment case: Fox News reported that “Bolton’s representatives made clear he was not denying the Times’ claim concerning the Ukraine aid holdup and the possible investigation of the Bidens.
Predictably, Democrat leaders are crowing today, and howling for the President’s head on a pike. The Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer (D-NYSSR) tweeted: “The @NYTimes report suggests multiple top Trump Admin officials knew the facts and deliberately misled Congress and the American people. A massive White House cover-up.” Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Shifty) agreed, tweeting: “We already have strong and direct evidence that Trump withheld military aid to demand political investigations. Bolton further corroborates it.”
President Trump, however, denied Bolton’s charge, tweeting: “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.”
Trump has a point. Bolton’s book containing his allegation went up for preorder at Amazon last night, just as news of his charge was released. While few might have been interested in the self-serving memoirs of a failed advocate of endless and pointless wars, now Bolton is virtually assured of a massive bestseller. What’s more, if his charges sway weak establishment Republicans such as Mitt Romney, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski to announce their intention to vote to convict, other establishment Republicans could follow their lead, and Trump could become the first President in American history to be both impeached and convicted and removed from office.
It’s still a long shot, even with Bolton’s charge, but the central question is: Why would John Bolton even want to open the door to that possibility? Does his hatred for Trump burn so intensely that he would rather see him and the Republican Party discredited and destroyed over claims that are dubious at best, and the Democrats assured of unchallenged hegemony for the foreseeable future, rather than see the President continue in office?
There is much more. Read the rest here.