Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said Sunday that he wished former national security adviser John Bolton had testified before the House in its impeachment inquiry of President Trump so lawmakers could have cross-examined him over the claims he later included in his forthcoming book.
“I do wish that Mr. Bolton would have come into the House under oath and testified,” the South Carolina Republican told ABC’s “This Week.”
“The problem is that when you’re selling it in a book, you’re not putting yourself in a position to be cross-examined,” he said. “So for $29.95 he can monetize his national security clearance, but under oath he would have had an opportunity to answer questions and not just make assertions.”
“So far, it looks like he’s monetized it more than he has actually provided fact patterns,” Scott said.
Bolton’s book, entitled “The Room Where It Happened,” is set to be released Tuesday but a number of news outlets last week reported on claims made within the book. Bolton alleges Trump sought China’s help with his re-election, shrugged off human rights abuses in China against Uighur Muslims and mused about jailing members of the press.
He also chastised Democrats for limiting the scope of their impeachment inquiry and said they had left other impeachable offenses on the table.
The former national security adviser refused to testify in the House’s impeachment inquiry last year after the White House denied authorization to a number of senior officials. Democrats did not move forward with subpoenaing Bolton out of a concern about how long the legal process would take. Bolton later offered to testify during the Senate’s impeachment trial – but only with a subpoena, which the GOP majority refused to grant.
On Saturday, a federal judge denied the administration’s request to stop the publication of Bolton’s book this week after the administration had argued the book contained classified information.