WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton said Monday that he is “prepared to testify” if he is subpoenaed by the Senate in its impeachment trial.
Bolton, who left the White House in September, said that he has weighed the issues of executive privilege and that after “careful consideration and study” decided that he would comply with a Senate subpoena.
“I have concluded that, if the Senate issues a subpoena for my testimony, I am prepared to testify," he said in a statement.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has publicly expressed resistance to calling new witnesses in the trial, though Democrats are pressing to hear from Bolton and others who did not appear before the House's inquiry in the upcoming proceedings.
Bolton's statement comes as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is stalling House-passed articles of impeachment against Trump in a bid to get new witnesses to testify. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has proposed calling several witnesses, including Bolton, but McConnell has so far rejected Schumer's terms.
It is unclear when Pelosi will eventually release the articles. If she decides to do so in the coming days, a Senate trial could start as soon as this week.
“We can’t hold a trial without the articles,” McConnell tweeted Monday. “The Senate’s own rules don’t provide for that. So, for now, we are content to continue the ordinary business of the Senate while House Democrats continue to flounder. For now.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill dissolving Walt Disney World’s private government after the entertainment giant criticized a measure that critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Autumn Peltier, an indigenous water activist, joined Cheddar News to talk about the lack of access to clean water among indigenous communities in Canada. “I say the government to hold themselves accountable for the promises that they make because Canada and indigenous people have a long history of broken promises and they still continue to this day to keep breaking promises with the nation's people," she said. "Less talk and more action is very much expected from me."
Robert Bonnie, farm production and conservation undersecretary for the USDA, spoke to Cheddar about climate-smart strategies to help farmers reduce carbon emissions from agriculture. "We share the costs of installing those practices on their lands in ways that will protect the climate and maintain agricultural productivity, and we're also partnering with farmers to draw in private investment in greenhouse gas emissions reductions provided by agriculture and forestry," he said. The hope is to get farmers and ranchers to produce climate-smart commodities to lessen the impact of climate change.
Cheddar's J.D. Durkin caught up with the head of NASA Bill Nelson, a former senator, who feels one thing that seems less rancorous on Capitol Hill these days is the work of the space agency.
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