Miscellaneous
The president’s legal defense team made their opening statements and now we’re in the phase where senators can submit questions to the House impeachment managers and the lawyers. But the biggest developments in the trial have arguably occurred outside the Senate chamber. The New York Times reported on the contents of former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s forthcoming book. Among other claims, the book says President Trump told Bolton he wanted military aid to Ukraine withheld until Ukraine probed Joe and Hunter Biden — in other words, the quid pro quo. There will be a vote soon about witnesses in the Senate trial. Is this trial incomplete without John Bolton’s testimony? Also: why doesn’t John Bolton just...talk? Do Republicans really believe that the president should only be accountable to the voting public and the only way to remove a president is to vote them out of office? That seems to be what they are arguing. Alan Dershowitz has made some broad statements about presidential power this week, namely, that if the president believes his re-election is in the public interest, a quid pro quo done to win re-election isn’t impeachable. Wow. Also, is Rudy Giuliani a good podcast host?