Former White House chief of Staff John Kelly says the Senate should hear from witnesses at President Trump’s impeachment trial, and he believes ex-national security adviser John R. Bolton’s reported version of the truth about Ukraine.
During a lecture in Sarasota, Florida, Mr. Kelly said Mr. Bolton, who is coming out with a book, is trustworthy.
“Every single time I was with him … he always gave the president the unvarnished truth,” Mr. Kelly said of Mr. Bolton on Monday night, according to Herald-News.com.
Mr. Bolton reportedly has written in a manuscript that the president told him he did not want to release military aid to Ukraine until the country investigated former Vice President Joseph R. Biden and his son, Hunter.
Mr. Kelly, a retired Marine general who left the White House just over a year ago, said of the controversy, “If John Bolton says that in the book I believe John Bolton. John’s an honest guy. He’s a man of integrity and great character, so we’ll see what happens.”
The former chief of staff, who believes Mr. Trump wouldn’t have been impeached if he had stayed in his White House job, said most Americans want to “hear the whole story” from witnesses during the impeachment trial.
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“So I think if there are people that could contribute to this, either innocence or guilt … I think they should be heard,” Mr. Kelly said. “I think some of the conversations seem to me to be very inappropriate but I wasn’t there. But there are people that were there that ought to be heard from.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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