Feb. 2 (UPI) — House intelligence committee Chairman Adam Schiff on Sunday declined to say whether the House will subpoena former national security adviser John Bolton.
In an interview on CBS News’ Face the Nation, Schiff chose not to comment on the House’s plans to subpoena Bolton who has previously said he would testify in the impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump after the Senate voted against calling witnesses in his trial.
“I will say this: Whether it’s in testimony before the House or it’s in his book or it’s in one form or another, the truth will come out,” Schiff said.
Bolton worked as a key adviser to Trump who was close to the president’s dealings with Ukraine and The New York Times reported that a manuscript of Bolton’s book said Trump told him about $400 million in aid to Ukraine, at the center of his impeachment trial, would not be released until Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
Schiff said that it was not “a misstep” for the House not to pursue subpoenas of Bolton and his deputy Charles Kupperman saying that “it would probably be one to two years” before a decision on whether a subpoena could be enforced would be made.
“That means the president would have been able to cheat in the next election with impunity because they could have simply delayed and played out the clock,” he said.
On Sunday, Schiff also called the arguments by Trump’s lawyers “disingenuous” and cited a Justice Department court filing released Friday night that revealed the existence of 24 emails that reveal Trump’s thinking about withholding military aid to Ukraine.
“That shows you the lengths to which the president’s lawyers are going to cover this up,” Schiff said. “But they’re going to fail. Indeed, they have failed already.”
He called on the Senate to remove Trump from office adding that senators are not “mere spectators” in the impeachment process and could have ensured the trial proceeded with witnesses and documents.
“It is within their power to make it a fair trial with four votes, with four courageous senators saying ‘no we’re going to demand a fair trial no matter what this president may say,'” said Schiff. “There would have been a fair trial. There would have been witnesses and testimony.”
