Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer on Monday said new revelations from former National Security Advisor John R. Bolton had blown apart GOP resistance to calling witnesses at the impeachment trial of President Trump.



“If there was ever a shred of logic left to not hear witnesses and review the documents, Mr. Bolton’s book just erased it,” said Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat.



He said Mr. Bolton’s account of the president linking withheld military aid to politically motivated investigations in Ukraine bolstered both of the two articles of impeachment.



Mr. Trump is only the third president in U.S. history to face an impeachment trail. In two articles of impeachment passed by the House in a party-line vote of abuse of power for asking Ukraine to investigate political rival former Vice President Joseph R. Biden and obstruction of Congress for not cooperating with the House impeachment inquiry.



Before the report about Mr. Bolton’s unpublished book, Senate Republicans were expected later this week to shoot down Democrats’ move to call witnesses and likely move toward a vote to acquit the president.



The report threw that into question.



“This is stunning,” Mr. Schumer said the newspaper report. “It goes right to the heart of the charges against the president.”

He said it was still an “uphill fight” to call witnesses because of pressure from the White House and Senate GOP leaders.

But he insisted the senators, who act as the jury in the impeachment trial, need to hear more than was in the newspaper report.

“Who knows what he’ll say under oath,” said Mr. Schumer.

According to Mr. Bolton’s manuscript, Mr. Trump said he wanted the aid held up until Ukraine officials turned over all materials they had about the Russia probe that related to Mr. Biden and supporters of 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

The newspaper did not view the manuscript but was told about it by multiple people who had read it. The report said that manuscripts had been circulated among close associates of Mr. Bolton and a copy was submitted to the NSA for review, as is standard procedure for books written by former administration officials.

Mr. Trump rejected a reported claim by former National Security Adviser John Bolton early Monday that he tied military aid to Ukraine to investigate of Democratic candidate Joseph R. Biden.

“I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens,” the president tweeted after midnight. “In fact, he never complained about this at the time of his very public termination. If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book.“

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