Impeachment news in the last week and a half was all a-flutter over alleged revelations by former secretary of state John Bolton and damning allegations in his latest book. Democrats seeking to remove Caligula Drumpf from his dictatorship position following his impeachment in the House are now cozying up to the warmonger in hopes that his testimony would achieve their aim of undoing the results of the 2016 election. There’s just one problem, though:
John Bolton is a serial liar and war criminal whose testimony would be at best unreliable and at worst a fatal blow to Democrats’ impeachment efforts. Legal scholar Jonathan Turley, who testified last year before the House on the lack of merits in the impeachment dog and pony show, explained why this would open up a can of worms. Here are three relevant paragraphs to consider:
A few hours after the start of the president’s defense, details from Bolton’s forthcoming book leaked, including his account of Trump asserting that $391 million in military aid would be withheld until Ukraine announced investigations into the 2016 election and the Bidens. If that seems a tad contrived for either an episode or an impeachment, that is because it is. In responding to a defense built around Trump’s insistence that his call was “perfect,” this leak was perfect to a fault. Perfect timing. Perfect content. It was so perfect that there is little doubt that the Senate is being played.
The leak happened at the exact time that it would inflict the most damage on the defense and throw the trial into disarray. It occurred hours after the White House team gave opening statements that seriously undermined critical points made by the House managers, including the assertions that Trump never previously raised corruption in other countries or that this type of hold on aid was uncommon. It felt like the sudden discovery of a gun near the victim at the scene of a police shooting.
That does not mean the leak will not succeed. The disclosure about Bolton’s book could well make the difference in securing the four Republican votes needed to obtain witnesses. But it could also succeed too well if it leads senators to plunge into the unknown of calling witnesses such as former vice president Joe Biden or his son Hunter. There are already indications that the leak may have secured the four votes for witnesses, while even Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) has said the Senate may need to subpoena the book draft itself.
Bolton’s testimony would be exposed as perjury, though it’s unlikely he’ll face serious consequences as he remains a darling of the neoconservative establishment that rules both the Republican and Democrat parties.
But it becomes even more damaging should Bolton’s leak result in a vote to bring in witness testimony.
Subpoenaing the Bidens would present a dilemma for Democrats. Joe Biden said he’d refuse to comply with any subpoena to testify, and I presume his son would also refuse a subpoena. Democrats are impeaching Drumpf in part because he refused to comply with subpoenas, thereby obstructing justice. If the Bidens do likewise, Democrats will be forced into the position of having to defend against their preferred candidate for the presidency doing exactly that for which they are attempting to impeach and remove the orange idiot from office.
I expect the Democrats to have no shame in engaging in such absurd efforts to justify crimes committed by their own party members while condemning those same crimes committed by Republicans. Hypocrisy is par for the course in Washington, D.C. and tribalistic politics. But it would likely sink what is left of Biden’s hopes for the nomination. Just as voters were fed up with Democrats running criminally corrupt Hillary Clinton in 2016, they will not turn out to throw their ballots away on the equally criminally corrupt Biden even if he somehow manages to go on to the general election.
What’s more, the Senate could easily issue a subpoena to the leaker, Eric Ciaramella, demanding his testimony. If that happens, Ciaramella—reported to be a registered Democrat and a Biden shill—cannot escape being exposed for the fraud he is and always has been. The GOPhers would have a field day over Ciaramella constructing a conspiracy narrative in which the Biden campaign sought to sabotage Drumpf through a C.I.A. officer loyal to Biden and through him, the political establishment Drumpf rightly claims is out to get him.
In short, calling Bolton opens up a can of worms Democrats are likely to regret ever having opened. Drumpf would absolutely be re-elected if the D.N.C. succeeds in denying Bernie Sanders the nomination for the presidency. That may be the preference of far right Democrats who are desperate to prevent a left-takeover of their party, but it’s tantamount to suicide—no, genocide—for humanity itself as climate change kicks into high gear while Drumpf’s policies send us over the climate tipping point.