WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s lawyers struggled to keep their impeachment defense on track Monday, insisting Democrats had failed to prove their case while resisting escalating attempts to subpoena former National Security Adviser John Bolton.
Bolton, an establishment Republican, has become a key figure in the Democrats’ case to remove the president from office after reports that Bolton’s unreleased memoir makes the explosive claim that Trump told him that he was withholding military aid to Ukraine to force its government to announce an investigation into a political rival.
The unfolding allegations sent a shock through an impeachment trial that was momentous but largely predictable as it entered its second week. Somnolent senators, shifting in their chairs to stay awake during lengthy arguments, charged the corridors during breaks to argue anew whether Bolton should be called to testify.
The new questions provide another stark test of Republican fealty to Trump, who has demanded unyielding loyalty, as senators quietly debated behind closed doors whether witnesses would ultimately need to be called to testify.
But speaking one after another in the Senate well, Trump’s 10 lawyers all but ignored the debate raging elsewhere on Capitol Hill, instead insisting that Democrats had failed to prove their case and no further evidence was needed.
“We do not deal with speculation, allegations,” said Jay Sekulow, one of the lead Trump lawyers.
Alan Dershowitz, a defense lawyer known for his celebrity clients, was the only Trump lawyer to even mention Bolton’s name. “Nothing in the Bolton revelations even if true rise to the level of an abuse of power or an impeachable offense,” he told the Senate.
Democrats say Trump abused his power by asking Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a potential opponent in this year’s election, while withholding nearly $400 million in security aid for Ukraine’s conflict with neighboring Russia. If Bolton is called as a witness, he could provide a first-hand account of the alleged connection between the two issues.
But on Monday, Trump’s lawyers continued to argue that Democrats had not provided any first-hand witnesses to Trump’s role. And in a nod to the president’s goal of tarnishing Biden, the legal team spent hours rehashing unproven allegations against the former vice president.
They accused Biden of forcing Ukraine to fire a prosecutor while his son Hunter was on the board of a Ukrainian energy company facing corruption allegations. Trump cited the allegations in a July 25 call with the newly elected Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
“All we are saying is that there was a basis to talk about this — to raise this issue,” said Pam Bondi, a member of Trump’s legal team.
As vice president, Biden was carrying out U.S. policy when he demanded the ouster of a Ukrainian prosecutor whose investigation of Burisma, the energy company, was said to be dormant. Both Bidens have denied any wrongdoing.
The Trump team’s focus on Biden served two purposes — distracting from Democratic allegations against Trump and providing an avenue for him to besmirch a politician he views as a potential formidable challenger in November.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, made little secret that politics were at play, noting that the Iowa caucuses, the first votes of the Democrats’ nominating contest, take place on Monday.
“Maybe (the lawyers arguments) will influence some of those voters as well,” she told reporters.
