Washington — President Trump’s defense team is set to conclude its arguments on Tuesday as Democrats continue to push Republicans to allow new witnesses, particularly former national security adviser John Bolton.
On Monday, most of the president’s attorneys sidestepped a report about potentially explosive accusations in Bolton’s upcoming book. The New York Times reported on Sunday that Bolton’s manuscript personally implicates Mr. Trump in a scheme to delay $391 million in military aid to Ukraine until the country pursued investigations into his political rivals.
Members of the president’s legal team emphasized perceived wrongdoing by former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter over that of the president, arguing Mr. Trump was justified in being skeptical of Ukraine. Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel whose report formed the basis for President Clinton’s impeachment, used his time to warn against the politicization of the impeachment process, an irony that was not lost on many.
Alan Dershowitz, another member of the team, eventually confronted Bolton’s reported allegations in a primetime presentation from the Senate floor Monday night. He argued that “nothing in the Bolton revelations, even if true, would rise to the level of an abuse of power or an impeachable offense.”
A handful of Republican senators, namely Mitt Romney and Susan Collins, expressed an openness to calling Bolton to testify. Four Republicans would be needed to pass a motion allowing witnesses in an upcoming phase of the trial.
Tuesday is the last day for the president’s team to deliver presentations, and the attorneys said they hope to wrap up their presentations by early evening. Senators will then have 16 hours to submit written questions to the president’s team and the House managers prosecuting the case, a phase that is likely to begin Wednesday.
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