President Donald Trump told then-National Security Adviser John Bolton he wanted to withhold congressionally appropriated military aid to Ukraine until that nation’s officials committed to probes of the Bidens, according to an unpublished book manuscript written by Bolton and reported on by The New York Times.

Trump was impeached last month after allegedly making military aid contingent on those probes. He has denied wrongdoing, and construes the impeachment as a politically motivated smear campaign by Democrats. Nonetheless, the Bolton report quickly landed on the radar of top Democrats as well as a Republican-turned-Independent lawmaker.

John Bolton has the evidence. It’s up to four Senate Republicans to ensure that John Bolton, Mick Mulvaney, and the others with direct knowledge of President Trump’s actions testify in the Senate trial.https://t.co/JbazBaYdRU — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 26, 2020

The NYT is breaking a very big story that under normal circumstances would cause Senators to unanimously request to hear from those with first hand knowledge of what the President did. — Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) January 26, 2020

Try to hold your laughter. President Trump on why he doesn’t want Bolton to testify: “What happens if he reveals what I think about a certain leader and it’s not very positive?” https://t.co/kPSiPTbErn — Justin Amash (@justinamash) January 26, 2020

In his unpublished manuscript, Bolton reportedly wrote that he discussed with Attorney General William Barr his issues regarding the president’s attorney Rudy Giuliani. That was sometime after Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

🚨 NYT: Bolton says in book that he reported his concerns about Rudy and Ukraine to Attorney General Barr pic.twitter.com/k6ye7b1t8O — Ross Garber (@rossgarber) January 26, 2020

Bolton attorney Charles J. Cooper declined to comment in the Times report. The White House did not answer questions about the former adviser’s statements.

[Image via Win McNamee/Getty Images]

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