Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been playing hardball with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for weeks.
In the days leading up to their long holiday recess, the House of Representatives passed two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump – one for abuse of power and another for obstruction of Congress. Here’s the catch, however: Pelosi has not yet submitted these articles over to the Senate for trial, hoping to use whatever leverage this creates to pressure McConnell to allow more witnesses.
McConnell has been steadfast in his reluctance thus far, but news out of Washington on Monday could test his mettle.
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton said Monday that he would testify in animpeachment trial against President Trump should he be subpoenaed by the Senate.
Bolton has been sought by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other Senate Democrats as a witness in the pending impeachment trial, along with other members of the administration, including acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. But the GOP majority has not at this point agreed to witnesses, and the entire process is in a holding pattern as Speaker Nancy Pelosi sits on the impeachment articles.
Still, Bolton’s statement could result in putting additional pressure on Republicans to consider witnesses — already, top Democrats were seizing on his statement to renew their calls for testimony.
It would be foolish to pretend that Bolton doesn’t have something important to tell Congress, especially now that he’s practically begging to be asked to speak. That puts McConnell in the untenable position of refusing to hear Bolton’s testimony simply because he’s already made up his own mind.
