President Trump’s defense team is rallying to paint the revelations reportedly in former national security adviser John Bolton’s new book regarding the administration’s withholding Ukraine aid as nothing more than a promotional effort.

Rep. Mark Meadows, North Carolina Republican and member of the president’s legal defense, said the timing showed Democrats’ desperation to bolster their case for impeachment of Mr. Trump.

“We’re talking about an unpublished manuscript that only ‘anonymous sources’ have seen, leaked by someone at the 11th hour, just as Democrats are losing what little impeachment momentum they had left,” he wrote in a statement. “The latest New York Times report may provide fodder for a political narrative, but it doesn’t change the facts. And in reality, the facts haven’t changed since day one of this circus.”

Mr. Trump’s legal team will continue to lay out their rebuttal to Democrats’ arguments Monday afternoon.

Senate Democrats have used the new information to ramp up pressure on vulnerable Senate Republicans to support their push for key witnesses, like Mr. Bolton, in the impeachment trial. So far at least two, Sens. Mitt Romney and Susan Collins, said the revelations strengthen the case for extending the trial.

Other Republicans are urging their colleagues to “take a breath” while the president’s defense plays out. For them, the question will remain open until the end of the week.

“In this case, it may move the needle in one direction or the other,” said Sen. Mike Braun, Indiana Republican. “I’m not going to deny it’s going to change the decibel level and probably the intensity with which we talk about witnesses.”

Sen. John Barrasso, Wyoming Republican, accused Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of simply trying to chip off enough Republicans to act as majority leader.

“It is his magic number,” he said.

The New York Times reported Sunday that Mr. Bolton claims in a forthcoming book that the president, in an August 2019 discussion, railed about Ukraine’s efforts against him in the last election and said he did not want $391 million in military aid released to Kyiv until it cooperated in investigations.

The claim strikes to the heart of the impeachment case that Mr. Trump abused his office by withholding the aid to get an investigation of his political rival and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden.

It also rattled Senate Republicans who had resisted Democrats’ demands for more witness testimony at the impeachment trial, including from Mr. Bolton.

According to Mr. Bolton’s manuscript, Mr. Trump said he wanted the aid withheld 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 Times 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 Mr. Bolton early Monday that he tied military aid to Ukraine’s investigation of Mr. Biden, a top contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

“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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