Bolton Says House Should Have Investigated Trump for Impeachable Actions Beyond Ukraine

[highplainsdem]

Source: NYT

John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser, says in his new book that the House in its impeachment inquiry should have investigated President Trump not just for pressuring Ukraine to incriminate his domestic foes but for a variety of instances when he sought to intervene in law enforcement matters for political reasons.

Mr. Bolton describes several episodes where the president expressed willingness to halt criminal investigations “to, in effect, give personal favors to dictators he liked,” citing cases involving major firms in China and Turkey. “The pattern looked like obstruction of justice as a way of life, which we couldn’t accept,” Mr. Bolton writes, adding that he reported his concerns to Attorney General William P. Barr.

-snip-

While other books by journalists, lower-level former aides and even an anonymous senior official have revealed much about the Trump White House, Mr. Bolton’s volume is the first tell-all memoir by such a high-ranking official who participated in major foreign policy events and has a lifetime of conservative credentials. It is a withering portrait of a president ignorant of even basic facts about the world, susceptible to transparent flattery by authoritarian leaders manipulating him and prone to false statements, foul-mouthed eruptions and snap decisions that aides try to manage or reverse.

Mr. Trump did not seem to know, for example, that Britain is a nuclear power and asked if Finland is part of Russia, Mr. Bolton writes. He came closer to withdrawing the United States from NATO than previously known. Even top advisers who position themselves as unswervingly loyal mock him behind his back. During Mr. Trump’s 2018 meeting with North Korea’s leader, according to the book, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slipped Mr. Bolton a note disparaging the president, saying, “He is so full of shit.”

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/us/politics/bolton-book-trump-impeached.html

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Twitter thread from Peter Baker, who wrote this article, starting here:

Link to tweet

[Hulk]

1. Damned coward.

He fits right in with the rest of this administration of incompetent cowards.

[ace3csusm]

2. then he should of testified ... traitor

NOW shut the Trump off...Go trump your self bigly

[mzmolly]

7. Exactly.

The POS.

[still_one]

32. +++

[BlueMTexpat]

36. + a million or so! eom

[steve2470]

38. my thoughts exactly

Hope he rots in hell with whatever he makes from his book.

[groundloop]

3. And Walrus Bolton should have testified.

If the motherfucker wasn't so interested in his book deal he'd have testified and let the world know all the dirty little secrets.

[Eliot Rosewater]

4. If they prove he KNEW chloroquine would not only not save you but KILL you but he

recommended the use anyway because he was financially involved, his followers wont care

NOTHING he does will matter to them...

[Maeve]

5. Day late and a dollar short

Could have been a hero, decided not to be.

[RKP5637]

6. Then Bolton should have stepped forward during the impeachment hearings no matter

what the consequences IMO.

[cp]

8. You got nothing to say, coward.

You had your chance.
No book sales for you, chicken.

[RKP5637]

9. Where the F was he when needed! He could have made a significant difference, but the

lure of book money was so great!!!

[AKing]

10. First question in all interviews.."Why didn't you come forward immediately instead...

of waiting for a book deal"?

[Auggie]

11. I'v wondered if The House is keeping a few aces in the hole ...

like, Trump is miraculously/suspiciously re-elected, but the Senate flips blue, for instance.

[Evolve Dammit]

12. Why didn't you squeak up then?? Jeezus H.

[exboyfil]

13. Profiles in Cowardice

Bolton can be on the cover. It was close call between him, Graham, or Collins.

[sop]

14. Did Bolton mention how House Democrats could have investigated these things, given that Trump

stonewalled and obstructed every single attempt to do so? Does he criticize Senate Republicans for not convicting Trump?

[Iliyah]

15. I remembered the House did ask you to testify . . .

and you refused.

So STFU.

[stopdiggin]

26. Yep. "Says the man who didn't show up .." --(nt)--

[Captain Zero]

16. Yeah right. Bolton should have answered his subpoena

Maybe we would be in a better place if Bolton showed up to testify when he was subpoened. Guess he had to trim the moustache that day.

[WinstonSmith4740]

17. Screw him.

He had the chance to tell his story when it would have counted. The Rethugs would have still voted to acquit, but now Bolton has given them the ability to play stupid. I can hear them now..."Well, if I had known THAT, of course I would have voted to convict!"

And Susan Collins will be very disappointed in him.

[unblock]

18. "Should have" based on what? This was widely discussed at the time

The house knew he had committed enough impeachable offenses for a decade or more of investigations. They reasonably enough came to the conclusion that they should just go with a simple, clear, and strong case based on a very limited number of offenses.

Prosecutors make these kinds of decisions all the time, especially when a conviction gets the highest penalty. Additional charges sometimes only delay and complicate and confuse the matter.

Sometimes serial killers are in prison for life for two murders, even after they've confessed to many more:

[stopdiggin]

29. dead on.

Shoulda', coulda', woulda' ....

It's tiresome .. not to mention ignorant.
How quickly we forget. The House presented a compelling case .. and the Senate just simply didn't want to hear it. And they weren't going to want to hear it next week .. or the week after that. So, just stop with the "should haves."

[JDC]

19. Fuuuuck You Bolton!

You traitorous, money grubbing coward.

[SWBTATTReg]

20. Karma will come to get all of these crooks soon. Our day in the sun will come and the ...

crooks and thieves will be finally nailed and collared, and perhaps thrown into jail. I got a funny feeling though, that if rump feels like he's going to lose, that he'll use Pence as a back up plan, to pardon trump for all crimes, and then leave office, leaving Pence in charge. If this happens, then you know for sure that rump has done some crap that no one has caught yet.

[LizBeth]

21. They flat out had him with what they went after him for. Trump, coconspirators, Republicans

refused to follow rule or law. Flat out had him. And nothing. Now Bolton is griping about wanting the Dems to go further.

[Mr. Ected]

22. MF'er just wants his digs in on the Dems, that's all

He knows damn well that the Senate was going to stonewall any and every effort to allow testimony or conduct a trial. They could have had videotape of Trump and Putin colluding or of Trump raping a child and it would have been buried.

While we're talking about what "should" have happened, how about you, Bolton? Why didn't you get in front of the cameras at that time and tease your book by relating a few salacious details that would have compromised Trump AND the Turtle? What's the problem, Walrus? Mustache got your tongue?

[ibegurpard]

23. Completely fucking uninterested

In anything this asshole has to say about a process he refused to participate in.

[Scarsdale]

24. Bolton should have found his spine

and testified when he was asked. Too little, too late now.

[0nirevets]

25. Gee thanks Bolton, you butthole.

Butthole John Bolton giving post hoc advice to the Congressional body he refused to testify before. Fuck you.

[LiberalLovinLug]

27. Thanks you fucking coward POS

Looks like he wanted to have his cake and eat it too.

He wanted to write a lucrative tell all book to cash in ....

But avoid the wrath of his party by testifying what he knew in the House impeachment hearings.

Because him showing up back then in the House, would have had a much bigger impact, than a book that he has to get in line with other tell-all books on the same subject.

[Kid Berwyn]

28. "He is so full of shit" -- Sec. of State Mike Pompeo

“He’s a fucking moron.” — Sec. of State Rex Tillerson

Seems to be an echo.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

30. Oh Dear Lord.

"Mr. Trump did not seem to know, for example, that Britain is a nuclear power and asked if Finland is part of Russia, Mr. Bolton writes. "

[Locrian]

31. he didn't give a damn then or now...

he just wants to be (late) "on record" (sorta) so when the trump train crashes he can try to whitewash history and not be part of the stink

[wryter2000]

33. I hope this book tanks

Bigly.

[soothsayer]

34. Nothing would have happened if he had testified

They already knew trump was guilty. They weren’t going to convict no matter what.

Still, I wish he had testified, of course.

[Schmice3]

35. Too little, too late.

You helped to sink the ship and we are all going down. It turns out to be true that the love of money is the root of all evil. Everybody in the Trump Regime both past and present deserve to be prosecuted for their malfeasance. I'm afraid, however, that threats will be made, deals will be struck, palms will be greased, and the Trumps and their enablers will just walk away. As usual, money talks...LOUD.

DO NOT MISTAKE BOLTON FOR SOME KIND OF HERO. DO NOT BUY THE BOOK. GO TO A LIBRARY INSTEAD.

[lastlib]

37. He reported it to Barr?

Sand in a rat-hole, futhermucker. Why didn't you DO YOUR DUTY and TESTIFY??? You TOOK A Fucking OATH to the CONSTITUTION, you worthless sack of bovine excrement! Why didn't you live up to it? Oh, you're a goddamned REPUBlikkan--oaths mean NOTHING to you!! Just go to your hole and proceed with self-fornication. With an old rusty, manure-encrusted, tetanus- and corona-infected pitchfork! Sideways.


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[jeffreyi]

39. Asshole.

[tavernier]

40. Sir Walter Scott said it best.

The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonored , and unsung.

[cstanleytech]

41. If he wins a 2nd term they probably will but either way they can nail him as once he is

out of office they can go after him for criminal charges and even a self pardon might not save his bacon.

[DeminPennswoods]

42. Pompeo is going to have to grovel now

after that revelation.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

43. Bolton should have testified to Congress if he had more info.