House Democrats are aggressively going after John Bolton after all

| 5:39 pm EST November 19, 2019
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When former Trump White House National Security Adviser John Bolton declined to show up and voluntarily testify earlier this month in the House impeachment inquiry, House Democrats publicly signaled that they were content to simply move on without him. At the same time, Bolton announced that he was willing to testify if a judge ruled that former White House Counsel Don McGahn must testify.

It was clear that John Bolton was looking for some kind of legal cover – or perhaps he was just looking to stall long enough to finalize his book deal – before testifying against Donald Trump. But court proceedings can take a long time, and again, House Democrats have made clear that they’re moving full speed ahead with a full slate of witnesses.

Now, however, House Democrats are formally asking the judge in the McGahn case to deliver her ruling as quickly as possible, according to respected Politico reporter Darren Samuelsohn. Here’s the thing. McGahn’s testimony would be useful, as he witnessed Trump’s obstruction of justice antics against the likes of Comey and Mueller. But that doesn’t really fit with the main thrust of the impeachment hearings thus far, which are largely focused on the more easily understandable Trump-Ukraine extortion plot.

We’re taking this as a rather obvious sign that House Democrats are asking the judge to speed up her ruling in the McGahn case because a swift favorable ruling would likely result in John Bolton publicly testifying against Donald Trump in the Ukraine scandal. In other words, they’re aggressively pursuing Bolton’s testimony after all.