John Bolton Plumbs the Depth of Trump’s Depravity
The former national security adviser accuses the president of putting his reelection above everything else—endorsing the persecution of China’s Uighur minority.
Bolton’s complaint is valid as far as it goes. Because they were in such a hurry—largely for reasons of the political calendar—Democrats moved hastily, leaving many stones unturned, even on the Ukraine matter. The result was an incomplete picture of Trump’s behavior, though the image that emerged from the impeachment was plenty damning on its own.
But Bolton must shoulder some of the blame, though he continues to try to shrug it off. He said at the time that he would testify to the House only under subpoena, but also said he wanted a court to weigh in on whether he was legally required to appear. Democrats, fearing this would take months, gave up and moved on. Bolton then said he’d appear before the Senate impeachment trial if subpoenaed, without a court decision, but the Senate failed to subpoena him on a mostly party-line vote, with only two Republican senators in favor of issuing a summons.
The information Bolton had to share is indeed disturbing, but he could have stepped up and made it public at any point before now. Everything in the book is material he believes is not classified, so he is not risking national security by publishing it. At the same time, he is taking a risk by defying the White House to publish the book—but if he was going to take that risk anyway, why not take it when the information could have aided the impeachment investigation?
theatlantic.com |
