WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump’s lawyers concluded their defense Tuesday, arguing his actions on Ukraine don’t warrant removal from office and trying to tamp down building pressure to call former National Security Advisor John Bolton to testify.

“I think we’ve made our case,” White House Counsel Pat Cipollone said as he delivered his final presentation. “The articles of impeachment fall far short of any constitutional standard and they are dangerous.”

The president’s team has accused Democrats of pursuing a partisan impeachment, arguing that there was no direct link between Trump’s decision to withhold financial aid from Ukraine and his pressure on that country to investigate political rival Joe Biden.

Bolton said the opposite, though, according to the New York Times, which reported that his forthcoming book says Trump directly linked the release of aid for Ukraine to investigations of Biden and his son, who served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.

While some Republicans are insisting the Bolton report adds nothing new, Senators Susan Collins and Mitt Romney among others have said the leaked account spurred new talks among Republicans about allowing witnesses. Democrats argue that a trial without testimony from Bolton would be a sham.

“I think Bolton probably has something to offer us,” said Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski, who is viewed as a barometer of whether there will be enough Republican votes to call witnesses. “We’ll figure out how we’re going to learn more.”

Senate votes

The Senate likely will be asked to decide that crucial question later this week. The Senate adjourned after Trump’s team wrapped up and will reconvene on Wednesday for eight hours of senators questions to both sides. They will continue questions on Thursday, leading to a vote on whether to call witnesses on Friday.

A national poll released Tuesday by Quinnipiac University found that three-quarters of registered voters say witnesses should be allowed to testify in the impeachment trial. That follows surveys with similar results by CNN and ABC/Washington Post. All the polls, though, show the public is evenly divided on whether Trump should be removed from office.

A decision to call Bolton or any other top Trump administration official is likely to spur a fight with the administration over executive privilege.

Trump attorney Jay Sekulow told senators Tuesday to ignore the leaks about Bolton’s book.

‘Unsourced allegation’

Impeachment “is not a game of leaks and unsourced manuscripts. That’s politics unfortunately, and Hamilton put impeachment in the hands of this body, the Senate, precisely and specifically to be above that fray,” he said.

“You cannot impeach a president on an unsourced allegation,” Sekulow said.

Two Republicans, James Lankford and Lindsey Graham, suggested senators review Bolton’s manuscript in secret ahead of the critical vote Friday on whether to call witnesses. But Sekulow called the manuscript “inadmissible.”

Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called it “absurd” to read a book set for publication in March in a secure setting. He said that wouldn’t be a substitute for putting questions to Bolton under oath.

Several Republicans headed to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office for a meeting after Cipollone concluded. (Source: Bloomberg)

Story Date: January 29, 2020