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.”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Friday said the coronavirus pandemic has hit a "plateau" but stressed that putting New Yorkers back to work hinges on the level of testing that is available across the state.
Arkansas is one of four states in the U.S. that has not passed any stay-at-home orders to combat coronavirus, and Governor Asa Hutchinson plans to keep it that way unless cases spike.
Gayle Smith, a former National Security Council member in the Obama Administration, is spreading the message that the U.S. must look beyond its borders to stop coronavirus.
Alabama withdrew triage guidelines that recommend deprioritizing care and life-saving equipment for intellectually disabled individuals on Wednesday following backlash from disability advocates.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said the state's number of ICU hospitalizations had fallen nearly two percent over the past 24 hours
The S&P 500 index closed out its best week since 1974 with another gain Thursday after the Federal Reserve launched its latest unprecedented effort to support the economy through the coronavirus outbreak.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved out of intensive care, his office says.
Though New York recorded 799 deaths, a record-high number for the third day in a row, Governor Andrew Cuomo said the novel coronavirus has not killed anyone due to a lack of care and said hospitalizations in the state are nearly flat.
Conservative policy analyst Steve Moore says President Donald Trump needs to double down on the economic policies of his first term to win over the electorate amid the pandemic.
The countries reportedly agreed to a cut of 10 million barrels per day for two months. However, the alleged scale of the cut varied widely, from as little as 2 million barrels a day to as much as 20 million barrels a day.
