ZEKE MILLER Associated Press
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.”
Jerome Powell says the outlook for the U.S. economy is "extraordinarily uncertain."
Health departments around the U.S. that are using contact tracers to contain coronavirus outbreaks are scrambling to bolster their ranks.
The Supreme Court has struck down a Louisiana law regulating abortion clinics, reasserting a commitment to abortion rights over fierce opposition from dissenting conservative justices in the first big abortion case of the Trump era.
Stocks closed sharply lower on Wall Street as the number of confirmed new coronavirus cases in the U.S. hit an all-time high.
The House of Representatives has passed a Washington, DC statehood bill. The bill is unlikely to make it through the senate as republicans oppose adding more representatives, likely democrat, to congress.
Ja'Ron K. Smith, deputy assistant to President Trump, talks White House progress on police reform and how the president is working to uplift Black and Brown communities.
Texas and Florida clamped down on bars again Friday, and the White House coronavirus task force, led by Vice President Pence, held its first briefing in nearly two months.
TJ Ducklo, National Press Sec. for Joe Biden talks Biden campaign strategy and August DNC.
Former Massachusetts governor and co-chair of American Bridge, Patrick Deval talks House police reform bill and need for republicans to stop governing out of fear.
A government watchdog says nearly 1.1 million relief payments totaling some $1.4 billion went to dead people in the government’s coronavirus aid program.
