Trump waived executive privilege when he called Bolton a liar
President Trump refers to himself as a counterpuncher. This time, he might have punched too hard.
In a series of tweets just after midnight Monday, Trump responded to weekend reporting about a forthcoming book by his former national security adviser John Bolton. The book reportedly reveals that Trump tied military aid for Ukraine to his demands for investigations into his political rivals. Trump’s tweets directly dispute the truth of these claims. He may have been hoping to push wavering Senate Republicans away from agreeing to call Bolton to testify in the impeachment trial. But in the process, Trump probably waived any executive privilege that he could have claimed to keep Bolton quiet if that gambit fails.
On Saturday, Trump’s lawyers argued that “not a single witness testified that the president himself said that there was any connection between any investigations and security assistance, a presidential meeting, or anything else.” That statement was literally true, but it now appears to have been deeply misleading. Because the next day, the New York Times reported that Bolton’s book says Trump told Bolton in August that he wanted to continue to hold almost $400 million in military funding until the Ukrainian government agreed to announce investigations into Democrats, including presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son. The reports renewed demands for Bolton’s testimony at the Senate impeachment trial.
Just after midnight Monday, Trump tweeted: “I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens. In fact, he never complained about this at the time of his very public termination. If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/01/27/trump-waived-executive-privilege-when-he-called-bolton-liar/
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