House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Sunday that House committee chairs and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) are discussing whether to have John Bolton testify before Congress in light of new allegations about President Trump in the former White House national security adviser’s forthcoming memoir.
Schiff said he has yet to read the forthcoming book, “The Room Where It Happened,” other than the excerpts that have been reported, but expects to do so in the next couple of days.
“Like the rest of the country, we will look at what allegations like those involving Turkey and other countries, particularly involving China, need to be fleshed out and exposed to the light of day and then we’ll make our decisions,” Schiff said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“But, you know, we do need I think to expose the length and breadth of this president’s depravity and how much it is endangering the country. So those facts are going to need to come out and we are discussing with the Speaker and my fellow chairs just how to do that,” he added.
Bolton makes several new allegations against the president in the book, including alleging that Trump solicited Chinese President Xi Jinping’s assistance in winning reelection.
Schiff suggested he would not have Bolton wait until after the November election to testify, if lawmakers decide to call him to do so.
“I don’t think we should wait if we conclude that there are important things that he says that need to be exposed to the public. The public needs to know exactly what they have in this president,” Schiff, who led the impeachment inquiry into President Trump, said. “A lot of it is not a surprise, but at the same time, exposure of this president’s misconduct is the best way to protect the country. Congress can take steps to protect the country.”
Bolton refused to testify before the House during its impeachment inquiry. Instead, he threatened to join a lawsuit contesting the House Democrats’ subpoenas seeking his associate’s testimony.
Schiff said on Sunday that by publishing allegations in the book after refusing to testify during the impeachment probe, Bolton “he indicts himself for cowardice and for greed.”
“Because there were people who did come forward, people like Colonel [Alexander] Vindman and Fiona Hill who risked their careers. And he lacked that basic courage and patriotism. It was only the greed that made him come forward in this book,” Schiff said.
“What his lawyer was saying at the time was that Bolton might damage the presidency or he might violate his own oath and that’s why he needed to go to court. But apparently those things have given away to a book deal,” Schiff added.