Pelosi won't rule out summoning Bolton, other aides to testify

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday said House Democrats have not “excluded” the possibility of subpoenaing former White House National Security Adviser John Bolton and other top Trump aides if the Republican-controlled Senate does not compel witnesses to testify in the upcoming Senate impeachment trial.

Pelosi, appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” defended her move to delay transmitting the House’s two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate, saying the maneuver has increased public pressure on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to allow for additional witnesses and documents at a yet-to-be scheduled impeachment trial.

Pelosi said she will meet with House Democrats on Tuesday to discuss the appointment of impeachment managers that will prosecute that case against Trump in the Senate, adding that the caucus will vote on when to transmit the two articles against Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of congress. Pelosi on Friday indicated the articles would be sent by the end of this week.

“Now the ball is in their court to either do that, or pay a price for not doing it,” Pelosi said about whether or not Senate Republicans allow witnesses and new documents to be admitted at the trial.

Asked whether House Democrats were prepared to subpoena Bolton, who has said he is willing to testify about his knowledge of Trump’s dealings with Ukraine if subpoenaed by the Senate, Pelosi replied: “It's not excluded.”

“We’ll see what they do, but we do think that there's enough evidence to remove the president from office,” Pelosi said referring to whether Senate Republicans subpoena Bolton.

Pelosi has come under criticism from McConnell and Republicans for delaying the transmittal of the articles of impeachment, a step needed to launch the Senate trial, but the speaker said she believed her decision led to a “positive result” — noting that since the House voted on Dec. 18 to impeach Trump, Bolton has since declared his willingness to testify, and a trove of documents was released to media outlets under a Freedom of Information Act request that provided new details about the timing of Trump’s order to withhold nearly $400 million in U.S. military aid to Ukraine after he pressed the country’s president to launch an investigation into his Democratic rivals.

“What we did want, though, and we think we accomplished in the past few weeks, is that we wanted the public to see the need for witnesses, witnesses with firsthand knowledge of what happened, documentation which the president has prevented from coming to the Congress as we review this,” Pelosi said, adding that if witnesses are not allowed to testify “that is a cover-up.”

Moments before the start of Pelosi’s live 9 a.m. interview with “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos, Trump took to Twitter, calling on the host to “ask why hearing was most unfair & biased in history.”

Pelosi brushed aside Trump’s tweet, telling Stephanopoulos: “I'd like to talk about some more pleasant subjects than the erratic nature of this president of the United States, but he has to know that every knock from him is a boost.”

Throughout the morning Trump continued to rail against Pelosi and one of the leaders of the impeachment inquiry, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).

“Why should I have the stigma of impeachment attached to my name when I did NOTHING wrong?” Trump tweeted.