The New York Times is just out with the latest bus driver: The Moustache himself:
Bolton Objected to Ukraine Pressure Campaign, Calling Giuliani ‘a Hand Grenade’
The effort to pressure Ukraine for political help provoked a heated confrontation inside the White House last summer that so alarmed John R. Bolton, then the national security adviser, that he told an aide to alert White House lawyers, House investigators were told on Monday.
This is according to testimony from Dr. Hill this morning:
“I am not part of whatever drug deal Rudy and Mulvaney are cooking up,” Mr. Bolton, a Yale-trained lawyer, told Ms. Hill to tell White House lawyers, according to the testimony.
It was not the first time Mr. Bolton expressed grave concerns to Ms. Hill about Mr. Giuliani. “Giuliani’s a hand grenade who’s going to blow everybody up,” Ms. Hill quoted Mr. Bolton as saying during an earlier conversation.
It was a short article, so this is clearly a developing story. But I’ve had the feeling for some time now that Bolton, policy disaster that he is, is nonetheless clear-headed enough to know to stay away from acts that are actually criminal rather than just merely unworkable.
Plus he hates Russia (“For John Bolton, Russia is part of a new ‘axis of evil’”), and sending arms to Ukraine would be just what he wants to see, so I suspect that in addition to the illegal pressure, he was incensed because he wanted those arms to get where they would do the most good.
There’s another WaPo story out today:
9:20 p.m.: Investigators mull whether to question Bolton
In a sign the impeachment inquiry is widening, investigators are discussing whether to question Bolton, according to people familiar with the matter.
Bolton was Hill’s direct superior at the National Security Council. He also led the NSC when, according to the whistleblower, lawyers in the White House Counsel’s Office directed that the transcript of Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky be moved to the council’s code-word-protected secure computer network.
Since his acrimonious departure from the Trump administration last month, Bolton has publicly criticized Trump’s handling of relations with North Korea but has said little about the unfolding Ukraine scandal.
Given the number of news outlets that have picked this up in the past hour, I think the mulling just boiled over. And when Bolton talks, both GIuliani and Trump will be sporting brand new tire marks.
Tuesday, Oct 15, 2019 · 6:16:43 AM +00:00 · Dan K
WaPo has a story out about Dr. Hill’s testimony, which includes this tidibt:
Bolton and Sondland met in early July with then-special envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker, Hill and Energy Secretary Rick Perry. During the meeting, Sondland’s agenda for Ukraine began to become clear, when he blurted out to the other officials present that there were “investigations that were dropped that need to be started up again,” according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter. The officials understood him to be referring to Burisma, the energy company, and Biden — something that made Bolton go “ballistic” after the meeting, the official said. [emphasis added]