One of President Trump’s defense lawyers said Tuesday that John Bolton’s book manuscript that allegedly supports Democrats’ impeachment case is “inadmissible” in the president’s Senate trial.
“You can’t impeach the president on an unsourced allegation,” attorney Jay Sekulow told senators. “I want to be clear on this, because there’s a lot of speculation out there.”
He said the president and other top administration officials have been forced to respond “to an unpublished manuscript that maybe some reporters have an idea of maybe what it says.”
“If you want to call that evidence, I don’t know what you call that,” Mr. Sekulow said. “I call it inadmissible.”
The president’s former national security adviser reportedly says in the manuscript that Mr. Trump acknowledged withholding military aid from Ukraine to pressure its president to start a corruption investigation of Democratic candidate Joseph R. Biden and his son Hunter.
Some GOP senators are considering a review of the manuscript in private. Democrats say it’s all the more reason to call Mr. Bolton as a witness in the trial.
Mr. Sekulow noted that the president denied the alleged Bolton account on Monday, as did Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, and Justice Department officials.
Mr. Sekulow also addressed an argument made Monday night by another of the president’s lawyers, Alan Dershowitz, that the Bolton accusation would not be an impeachable offense even if it were true.
“My co-counsel, Professor Alan Dershowitz, explained last night that these articles [of impeachment] must be rejected,” Mr. Sekulow said. “He’s talking about from a constitutional framework — even if it was a quid pro quo, which we have clearly established there was not.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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