Impeachment trial of President Trump

Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff released a statement today during the Senate impeachment trial regarding the Ukraine aid.

“At no time did I hear him tie aid to Ukraine to investigations into the Biden family or Burisma,” Pence staffer Marc Short said.

Here’s his full statement:

There appeared to be a lot of note-taking at the House impeachment manager table today with Reps. Adam Schiff, Zoe Lofgren and Hakeem Jeffries frequently bending their heads over the desk to write things down as the defense gave its presentation.

Schiff, as he has done before, also frequently looked on at the defense as they made their arguments.

When Trump attorney Jane Raskin argued that so far the score is “Mayor Giuliani 4, Mr. Schiff, 0,” Schiff stared right at her unflinchingly.

Rudy Giuliani tweeted his thanks to President Trump’s lawyer Jane Raskin for her defense of him in her opening argument.

“Jane Raskin is doing a masterful job defending me in my role as defense counsel,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was not notified in advance about the unpublished manuscript from former national security adviser John Bolton’s upcoming book, his spokesperson said.

“The leader did not have any advance notice,” the spokesperson said.

About the manuscript: The New York Times reported Trump ordered Bolton to keep military aid to Ukraine frozen in a bid to coerce political favors.

Given yesterday’s report from the New York Times that a manuscript of John Bolton’s unpublished book alleges President Trump linked aid to Ukraine with investigations into Democrats, including Joe Biden, the former national security adviser looms large over the impeachment trial of President Trump. 

Throughout this morning, senators were pressed by reporters about whether they would vote to call Bolton to testify at Trump’s trial.

But Trump’s defense team did not mention Bolton’s name in its initial arguments.

Trump lawyer Ken Starr spoke for nearly an hour, focusing on the history of presidential impeachment. He mentioned former president Richard Nixon at least 10 times, former president Andrew Johnson at least five, and Bolton not once.

Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow appeared to nod toward Bolton in his own early comments on Monday, saying: “We deal with transcript evidence, we deal with publicly available information. We do not deal with speculation, allegations that are not based on evidentiary standards at all.”

Sekulow repeated the list of six arguments the President’s defense team introduced in its initial presentation on Saturday. One of the six items was this: “Not a single witness testified that the President himself said that that there was any connection between any investigation and security assistance, a presidential meeting or anything else.”

Sekulow’s claim was not false, since Bolton was not a witness in the House impeachment process — having declined a Democratic request to appear voluntarily. But it is still possible the Senate will vote to subpoena Bolton in the ongoing trial.

President Trump’s lawyer Jane Raskin accused Democrats of exaggerating Rudy Giuliani’s role in the Ukraine affair.

“In this trial, in this moment, Mr. Giuliani is just a minor player, that shiny object designed to distract you,” Raskin said. “Senators, I urge you most respectfully, do not be distracted.”

This ignores testimony from several witnesses, who said the President directed them to coordinate with Giuliani on Ukraine policy. It also ignores the fact that Giuliani’s name came up six times during Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

Here are all the times Giuliani was mentioned in the call:

Jane Raskin, one of President Trump’s lawyers, argued that the House managers are focused on the President’s private attorney Rudy Giuliani to “distract from the fact that the evidence does not support their claims.”

Raskin continued: “Rudy Giuliani is the House managers’ colorful distraction. He’s a household name.”

During the short break, Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer refuted the Trump defense team’s claim that none of the Democrats’ witnesses spoke to the President himself about Ukraine.

“[Jay] Sekulow said when he listed his five points, not a single witness said they heard from POTUS himself. We want Bolton, we want Mulvaney. We can solve Mr. Sekulow’s problem of not hearing from the witnesses themselves,” Schumer said.

Asked if he thought the House should subpoena the manuscript or Bolton, he said, “That’s going to be up to them. I’m not going to give them advice.”

Deputy White House Counsel Michael Purpura downplayed allegations that President Trump withheld a White House invitation from the new Ukrainian president as leverage to secure investigations into his political rivals. The allegations of a quid pro quo are at the center of the abuse-of-power charge against Trump, and have been supported by witnesses who testified in the House.

But Purpura said this narrative was “nonsense” because Ukraine didn’t announce investigations, and Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in September, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. 

“You are probably wondering, how could the House managers claim that there was a quid pro quo for a meeting with President Trump when the two presidents actually did meet without President Zelensky announcing any investigations?” Purpura asked.

Purpura continued, “Well, the House managers moved the goalposts again. They claimed the meeting could not be just an in-person meeting with President Trump, what it had to be was a meeting at the Oval Office and in the White House. That’s nonsense.”

But this argument glosses over the differences between a short meeting at the UN and the symbolic value of a White House visit.

Remember: Some witnesses testified in the House inquiry that Zelensky wanted an invitation to the White House because it was important for him to send a signal to the Kremlin, and other adversaries, that his new administration in Ukraine had strong support from the US. 

Purpura’s comments ignores several relevant statements from Zelensky himself, who repeatedly told Trump that he wants to visit Washington specifically. This happened in both of their phone calls last year, according to rough transcripts released by the White House. Zelensky even made a joke during their meeting in New York that Trump “forgot” to give him a date for the DC visit.

Trump-Zelensky phone call on April 21, 2019

Trump-Zelensky phone call on July 25, 2019 

Later in the call…

Trump-Zelensky pool spray on September 25, 2019

CNN’s Nicolle Okoren contributed reporting

The Senate is back from a brief break. President Trump’s legal team will continue to give their opening arguments.

In the hours after the New York Times broke the John Bolton story, Republican senators began reaching out to the White House to control the damage.

Both Sens. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and ally of Trump’s, as well as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell were in communication and there was an expressed view that the GOP Senate should have been kept in the loop.

One message conveyed to the White House, according to a GOP senator with knowledge of the conversations, was that Republicans were on the front lines of the trial and for them to be left without all available information was “malpractice.” 

One source told CNN that the National Security Council statement came as a result of conversations with GOP senators. That statement made it clear that only a small number of people would have had access to the manuscript. 

The message was also that the President’s team needed to defend the President, but lean less into focusing on what Trump did or did not do, and instead focus on why what is alleged to have happened did not rise to the level of impeachment. 

In the last week, GOP leaders have pressed upon their members that the outcome of this impeachment is inevitable. Trump won’t be removed from office. Therefore, a prolonged fight over witnesses, court battles, and continued paralysis of the Senate chamber is just more pain for an outcome that isn’t going to change. Members appeared to be coming around to that, and largely, seem to be in the same place today. But, the Bolton news shook that rationale, and GOP senators close to the White House needed to remind the President’s team that the job of keeping the party in line can’t happen if there are going to be unnecessary surprises. 

The jolt to the conference was apparent in the hours after the Bolton draft was disclosed, aides said, with rank-and-file senators scrambling to figure out the ramifications. It’s part of what drove McConnell’s message in the closed door Senate GOP lunch Monday – one summarized by multiple senators in attendance as “take a deep breath.” 

During the first hour of the defense’s argument today, Republican senators and some Democrats took copious notes.

Everyone appeared present and attentive. There were no absences or fidget spinners. 

Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins took notes as Trump attorney Ken Starr spoke and said “instead of a once in a century phenomenon, which it had been, presidential impeachment has become a weapon to be wielded against ones political opponent.”

GOP Sen. Mitt Romney picked up his pen when Starr emphasized that Nixon’s impeachment was the first in 100 years.

When Starr added that Nixon’s impeachment was “powerfully bipartisan,” Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander also picked up his pen. Alexander jotted notes when Starr noted a minute later that impeachment “divides the country like nothing else.”

The Senate impeachment trial is now taking a short break. When they come back, President Trump’s legal team will continue its opening arguments.

President Trump’s legal team is centering its case against impeachment around six key facts they say “have not and will not change.”

Deputy White House counsel Mike Purpura introduced them on Saturday and the President’s attorney Jay Sekulow repeated them on Monday. 

CNN’s fact-check team went through each of these claims on Saturday. You can read the full break down here. 

Both Pat Cipollone and Mike Purpura of the President’s legal team claimed today that Ukraine did not know military aid was being withheld at the time of the July 25 phone call, implying that there could effectively be no quid pro quo between the parties. 

They made the same claim on Saturday during their opening arguments.

“President Zelensky and high-ranking Ukrainian officials did not even know the security assistance was paused until the end of August, over a month after the July 25 call,” Purpura said Saturday.

Facts First: It’s unclear when exactly top Ukrainian government officials knew that nearly $400 million in military and security aid was being withheld. But there is evidence that some of them suspected there was an issue with the funding as early as July 25, the same day as President Trump’s phone call with Zelensky.

According to testimony from Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, some members of her staff told her that they had received queries about the aid from Ukrainian officials on July 25.

Cooper did not, however, know if the Ukrainian officials were aware of a hold on the aid or were just checking in.

The New York Times reported that, according to Olena Zerkal, an ex-top official in Kiev, members of the Ukrainian government knew the aid was being held up at some point in late July, but Zerkal could not recall the exact date.

As Purpura noted on Saturday, the withholding of military aid was not brought up in meetings between Ukraine and US officials. It wasn’t until Politico reported in late August that Trump was withholding military aid to Ukraine that top Zelensky adviser, Andrey Yermak, texted Kurt Volker, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, with a link to the article and a message “we need to talk.” 

This could be due to the unusual process of how the aid was withheld.

The Office of Management and Budget has declined to turn over documents to investigators related to the withholding of the aid.

The President’s defense team showed a video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi passing out pens to impeachment managers after signing the articles of impeachment earlier this month.

Attorney Jay Sekulow lambasted Democrats’ “celebratory moment.”

“Pens distributed to the impeachment managers. A celebratory moment. Think about that. Think about this. A poignant moment,” Sekulow said.

Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, have previously railed against the souvenir pens.

Watch the moment:

Trump defense team member Ken Starr delivered his argument before the Senate on Monday, asserting that since President Richard Nixon’s impeachment, Congress has turned to impeachment for political motivations.

Starr, who pulled frequently from historical precedent, argued that the US is in the “age of impeachment.”

He continued: “In the wake of the long national nightmare of Watergate, Congress and President Jimmy Carter collaboratively ushered in a new chapter in America’s constitutional history. Together in full agreement, they enacted the Independent Counsels Provisions of The Ethics and Government Act of 1978. But the new chapter was not simply the age of independent counsels. It became, unbeknownst to the American people, the age of impeachment.” 

Starr, who served as independent counsel during the Whitewater investigation, called impeachment “a weapon to be wielded against one’s political opponent,” but not used against early “controversial presidents,” like Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay. 

CNN’s Greg Wallace, Olanma Mang and Mariah Espada contributed to this report.

John Bolton has denied that he and his publishers coordinated any “appearance of information about his book,” according to his PAC director.

“Any assertion to the contrary is unfounded speculation,” Sarah Tinsley, the director of the John Bolton PAC, said in a statement.

Here’s the full statement:

Sens. Kevin Cramer and Mike Braun laid out what Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s message was in the conference lunch today

Sen. Cramer, a Republican from North Dakota, says that McConnell reminded members that they included a vote on witnesses in the resolution, and members will get that opportunity. But for now, the focus is on listening to the next two steps of the process: Trump’s counsel and the question-and-answer portion.

Cramer said he did not get the sense from lunch that the Bolton news was fundamentally shifting things: “The Bolton thing is just a new wrinkle, but not really overly concerning to anyone.” 

Cramer said he “did not know” if Trump’s counsel would approach the topic of Bolton today.

On whether he detected more of a sentiment among his colleagues to hear from witnesses, Cramer said, “I think it is about the same as it has always been to be honest.”

Sen. Braun explained McConnell’s message at lunch, saying essentially that GOP members shouldn’t lock themselves into a position before the defense team makes its case and senators ask questions.

Asked if he specifically said, “deep breath,” Braun said he was paraphrasing McConnell, who made the case to “keep cool” and “we will get there.”

Braun also said that at the lunch, Republican senators said if they do move forward on witnesses, Democrats need to be prepared for witnesses sought by the GOP.

“If we get to the questions of witnesses, and people think they need them, there would be a back-and-forth: A Democratic witness, a Republican witness.”

Trump impeachment attorney Kenneth Starr walked through the charges in the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton and the impeachment inquiry of Richard Nixon.

He’s arguing that no crimes were committed in Trump’s case, undermining the validity of impeachment.

“Were crimes alleged in the articles in the common law of presidential impeachment? In Nixon, yes. In Clinton, yes. Here, no,” he said.

Remember: Impeachment doesn’t need to be based on a statutory crime, according to CNN legal analyst Elie Honig.

Here’s how Honig put it:

A source familiar with the John Bolton’s book suggested the full information within the unpublished manuscript was damning to President Trump and would make it much harder for Republican senators to play the “nothing new here” card. 

The source also responded to Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham’s comments on wanting to see it, saying, “I’m not sure he does.” 

More on this: Graham told CNN that he wants to see the Bolton manuscript.

“What we have to do here is evaluate the manuscript and see if it’s a reason to add to the record,” he said.

Asked if he would support a subpoena to get the manuscript, the South Carolina Republican said, “I want to know what’s in the manuscript, yeah, I think that’s important.” 

He said the manuscript could change his thinking on calling witnesses. 

“It could. I don’t know yet. The White House said there was no direct evidence of communications, maybe this suggests that one person said there might be,” Graham said.

Trump defense attorney Kenneth Starr said in his remarks today, “Like war, impeachment is hell. Or, at least, presidential impeachment is hell.” 

He went on to invoke the Clinton impeachment, comparing a presidential impeachment to “domestic war.”

Remember: Starr was the prosecutor best known for his work that led to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in the 1990s. He is presenting for the first time today as a member of President Trump’s defense team.

Watch the moment:

House manager Adam Schiff and his staff have not had any conversations with former national security John Bolton or his team since the developments about his book, a Democratic source said.

About his book: The New York Times reported Trump ordered former national security adviser John Bolton to keep military aid to Ukraine frozen in a bid to coerce political favors.

The second day of President Trump’s legal defense team’s arguments is underway.

Jay Sekulow, the President’s private counsel, alluded to bombshell allegations over the weekend from former national security adviser John Bolton directly tying Ukraine aid to an investigation of the Bidens. But he suggested it would not be discussed by the team on Monday. 

Sekulow said the team — including Judge Kenneth Starr, who led the investigation leading to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment — would begin by laying out an overview of “historical and constitutional issues with impeachment proceedings.” 

In his introductory remarks, Sekulow argued that Democrats conducted “a pattern and practice of attempts over a three-year period to not only interfere with the President’s ability to govern,” which he called “unsuccessful.”

In a news conference ahead of today’s impeachment proceedings, House Republicans provided a sense for how they are arguing away the latest developments involving former national security adviser John Bolton. 

Rep. Doug Collins went on to add that it is “rerun of what we saw in the House.”

John Bolton is now “assessing his options” with regards to his forthcoming book, a source with knowledge of discussions over the book say.

Bolton’s book, “The Room Where It Happened,” was announced on Sunday night and listed with a March 17 release date.

Responding to criticism of his public silence during the impeachment probe, the source says “Bolton submitted to the White House out of an abundance of caution and tried to follow the process.”

But “that process has been breached,” the source says, referring to the details in Sunday night’s New York Times story. So he is “assessing his options.”

What happens next: Bolton is trying to decide what he wants to do — whether to speak out in some form, through Twitter or some other medium. While there have been no discussions about a TV interview, the source says, it is not out of the question either. Bolton has repeatedly said that he will testify if subpoenaed. 

The publisher, Simon & Schuster, needs time to finish the production of the book and print physical copies. The publisher is currently planning on the March 17 date. But the book could theoretically be released sometime before March 17, at least in digital form, if the parties involved wanted it out sooner.

The book currently ranks in the top 100 on Amazon’s best selling books chart, and at around midday on Monday it was at No. 55.

Trump impeachment lawyer Ken Starr is making his first comments on the Senate floor during the impeachment trial of President Trump.

Starr — who was the prosecutor known for his work that led to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in the 1990s — mentioned that previous trial in his opening remarks as he described how the Senate is a court now.

“During the Clinton impeachment trial 21 years ago in this chamber, the Chief Justice of the United States ruled in response to the interjection that was interposed by Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa. ‘The senators are not sitting as jurors,’ Sen. Harkin noted,” Starr said.

He continued:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell kicked off the trial proceedings today by wishing Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts a happy birthday.

McConnell joked: “I’m sure this is exactly how you planned to celebrate today.”

Roberts responded:

Senate chaplain Barry Black mentioned the death of Kobe Bryant, as well as the eight other victims of yesterday’s helicopter crash, in his opening prayer,

“Remind us that we all have a limited time on Earth to leave the world better than we found it. As this impeachment process unfolds, give our senators the desire to make the most of their time on Earth,” he added.

Watch the chaplain’s prayer:

Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee, says he was among the Republicans who fought to include in the resolution a vote on witnesses.

He said “I’ll decide then at that time” on witnesses. 

President Trump’s legal team just resumed their opening arguments. They still have nearly 22 hours left to make their case.

Lead impeachment manager Adam Schiff said he’s “pleased” some Republican senators have said they’d like to hear testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton, whose manuscript is at the center of impeachment news today.

“I am pleased that the senators are reconsidering,” Schiff told reporters. “This witness obviously has such relevant information to shed on the most egregious of all of the charges in the articles of impeachment, and that is that the President of the United States withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid from an ally at war to help secure that nation’s help to cheat in the next election.”

Schiff added:

A source working with the President’s legal team said Republican leaders are expected to argue against subpoenaing former national security adviser John Bolton.

According to the source, the argument, which will be made at the Senate Republicans’ closed conference lunch, will go like this: Whether John Bolton has relevant information has never been the primary focus. The focus has been on whether the Senate will “agree to pick up the Democrats’ abdicated responsibility” by digging for evidence that did not support the articles of impeachment when they were drafted.

The source acknowledged that the votes for witnesses may now be there, but said the process argument, which has gained traction among Senate Republicans, remains unchanged by Bolton’s revelation.

President Trump’s impeachment team thought Sunday was going to be their last day to fine tune their final arguments for the Senate floor.

They were confident, multiple people said, assured they could get Senate Republicans to a safe place to vote against witnesses and wrap up their client’s trial by the end of the week.

Then came John Bolton. 

The bombshell report in the New York Times sent the White House legal team working late into the night, as they realized it had the potential to change the trajectory of the trial.

First and foremost, aides wanted Trump to address the book himself, and helped craft last night’s late-night tweet to provide his allies with talking points for the day. 

Their next decision was whether to address the manuscript directly on the Senate floor today, according to a person briefed on the discussions. It became a major source of debate, with some advising it should be ignored while others said there’s no way they couldn’t talk about it. 

As of this morning, still no final decision had been made on that front. Initially, today was supposed to be the White House’s last day of arguments. That’s now up in the air, too. 

Alan Dershowitz and Ken Starr were at the White House this weekend ahead of today’s arguments on the Senate floor. This is notable because as of Friday, the two had still not been part of the formal legal prep for the president’s defense.

Both are expected to speak today. Pat Cipollone, Jay Sekulow, Ken Starr and Alan Dershowitz take the Senate floor today at 1 p.m. ET.

Sen. Lindsey Graham said today that he wants to see former national security adviser John Bolton’s manuscript.

“What we have to do here is evaluate the manuscript and see if it’s a reason to add to the record,” he said.

Asked if he would support a subpoena to get the manuscript, the South Carolina Republican said, “I want to know what’s in the manuscript, yeah, I think that’s important.”

He said the manuscript could change his thinking on calling witnesses. 

“It could. I don’t know yet. The White House said there was no direct evidence of communications, maybe this suggests that one person said there might be,” he said.

Graham emphasized that if Republicans do anything to call new documents or Bolton, they will also call the Bidens. 

“I have no idea how this happened,” he added. “I don’t know who leaked this. They say they didn’t do it. I’m not going to make a commitment about something I don’t know.”

Remember: There’s no evidence of wrongdoing by the Bidens.

President Trump’s impeachment trial continues in Washington, but The Brief’s Bianca Nobilo has been keeping track of the day’s headlines outside Capitol Hill.

 Here’s what you need to know:

Watch more:

Thom Tillis, a Republican senator up for re-election, said “not at this point” when asked if the John Bolton report changes his views on witnesses.

Asked why he doesn’t want to hear from Bolton, Tillis said:

About Bolton’s book: President Trump in August told Bolton that he wanted to continue holding military aid to Ukraine until the country helped with investigations into Democrats — including former Vice President Joe Biden — the New York Times reported Sunday, citing multiple people’s descriptions of an unpublished draft manuscript by Bolton.

A source with direct knowledge of the manuscript told CNN the New York Times’ telling of Bolton’s account of the Ukraine aid hold discussion with Trump is accurate.

President Trump says he hasn’t seen a copy of his former national security adviser’s forthcoming book.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said he had not seen a manuscript of “The Room Where it Happened.”

He was speaking ahead of a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The meeting is ongoing.

GOP Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah reiterated demands to call for John Bolton to testify, saying he’s had discussions with some of his colleagues on the matter.

He predicted that it’s “increasingly likely” that there would be others who would join him.

The numbers: If all 47 senators who caucus with the Democrats vote for witnesses, at least four GOP senators would need to join them in order to pass a motion.

Watch here:

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misquoted Romney. He said it is “increasingly likely that other Republicans will join those of us who think we should hear from John Bolton.”

Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, said “the reporting on John Bolton strengthens the case for witnesses and has prompted a number of conversations among my colleagues.”

“I think fairness requires us to allow both sides to present their cases before we move to the issue of witnesses, and I’ve worked very hard to get language in the governing resolution that would ensure a vote on whether or not to call witnesses and subpoena other documents,” she told a small group of reporters in the Capitol.

Collins is one of three GOP senators who have signaled they could vote to allow witnesses at trial. If all 47 senators who caucus with the Democrats vote for witnesses, at least four GOP senators would need to join them in order to pass a motion.

Collins’ comments came shortly after she put out a short, similar statement on Twitter:

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said former national security adviser John Bolton’s manuscript is “stunning.” He called on Senate Republicans to vote to hear from witnesses, such as Bolton, at the trial.

Schumer asked: “How can Senate Republicans not vote to call that witness and request his documents?”

Schumer said GOP senators who claim “the House case lacks eyewitnesses” and then vote against hearing from witnesses are “talking out of both sides of their mouth.”

Watch here:

Chief Justice John Roberts appeared briefly on the Supreme Court bench today, his 65th birthday, to swear in a roomful of military lawyers to the Supreme Court bar. Roberts was joined by five other members of the court. 

 Earlier in the morning, the Supreme Court had issued an orders list, but did not act on big pending issues including religious liberty, LGBT rights, the Second Amendment and immigration.

Roberts is due at the Senate, to preside over the impeachment trial, at 1 p.m. ET.

The justices are now on recess: They are expected back at court on Feb. 21 for a closed door conference and then arguments and potential opinions the week of Feb. 24. 

It seems the impeachment may have slowed down the release of opinions. Last year at this time the court had issued eight, this term they’ve only issued four. 

Even though the justices are on recess from the bench, they will still respond to emergency orders and accept petitions. We could get an order on the Trump administration’s public charge rule as early as today, as well as the Trump filing on the president’s bid to keep his financial documents shielded from release. 

House Democratic aides say they are focused on the Senate trial and getting former national security adviser John Bolton to testify there. They refused to say what their strategy is for Bolton if he doesn’t appear before the Senate. 

Democratic aides would not discuss whether they are preparing to seek Bolton’s testimony in the House in light of the revelations in his draft book manuscript that the President connected withholding US aid to investigating the Bidens, declining to discuss any efforts to obtain Bolton’s testimony or his notes beyond saying the Senate should subpoena them.

House impeachment manager Adam Schiff told CNN this morning that he is more interested in John Bolton’s notetaking than Bolton’s book manuscript.

A reminder: John Bolton was widely known as a diligent notetaker during his time at the National Security Council, multiple people told CNN. Bolton was frequently seen clutching a yellow legal pad around the White House, which he also took to meetings.

“These notes took place while the events were happening, while they were fresh in his mind,” Schiff said. “Those in many respects are more important than the manuscript. So we ought to not only have John Bolton testify but we ought to see what he wrote down in his notes at the time.”

Former national security adviser John Bolton’s upcoming book blindsided senior White House officials and GOP senators who now want to know more about Bolton’s side of the story as laid out in his manuscript, multiple sources close to the process told CNN.

GOP senators may now be open to the idea of Bolton testifying in a classified setting, Republican sources close to the process said.

Others may want to learn more about the manuscript, those sources said, with one GOP official noting Bolton has more credibility than Giuliani associate Lev Parnas. Still, another official stated the obvious: Bolton is selling a book.

Bolton’s book also took top aides by surprise at the White House, two senior officials said.

Another source familiar with conversations ongoing since the Bolton news broke told CNN that the White House is hearing from Republican senators who are frustrated that at least someone in the White House had the Bolton manuscript since the end of December and they were kept in the dark.

The question is what to do about it. Seeking more information from Bolton could prolong the trial, Republican sources said, something Majority Leader McConnell doesn’t want.

Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican and former Senate Majority Whip, downplayed the significance of former national security adviser John Bolton’s revelation that Trump wanted to continue holding military aid to Ukraine until the country helped with investigations into Democrats.

Cornyn said the timing around this was suspicious and accused Democrats of having a “credibility problem.”

When pressed by CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux that Bolton’s manuscript is inconsistent with what the White House defense team has been saying, Cornyn disagreed. 

Chief Justice John Roberts, who has been presiding over the Senate impeachment trial, is celebrating his 65th birthday today.

He’s expected to preside over the trial when the Senate reconvenes at 1 p.m. ET.

The National Security Council said in a statement this morning that former national security adviser John Bolton’s manuscript is under “initial review,” and that no White House personnel outside the NSC have reviewed it. 

Here’s the statement statement from National Security Council spokesperson John Ullyot:

President Trump’s legal team will continue giving their opening arguments when the Senate impeachment trial resumes this afternoon.

Here’s what we’re watching today:

Lead House impeachment manger Rep. Adam Schiff told CNN that former national security adviser John Bolton’s revelation that President Trump directly tied investigations into political opponents to the hold on Ukraine military aid undercuts the President’s defense. 

Schiff also said the new allegation means that Senators are “hard pressed” not to hear more from Bolton. 

“The question is, are the senators willing to her the truth?” Schiff said. 

Schiff added:

What this is all about: Trump in August told Bolton that he wanted to continue holding military aid to Ukraine until the country helped with investigations into Democrats — including former Vice President Joe Biden — the New York Times reported Sunday, citing multiple people’s descriptions of an unpublished draft manuscript by Bolton.

A source with direct knowledge of the manuscript told CNN the New York Times’ telling of Bolton’s account of the Ukraine aid hold discussion with Trump is accurate.

Call it the October surprise of President Trump’s impeachment trial. 

John Bolton, the former national security adviser who has been playing his own personal game of footsie with impeachment negotiators for months, has written in a draft book manuscript that the President did, in fact, condition US security assistance to Ukraine on investigations into a political rival.

He represents a first-hand witness. He represents direct knowledge. He represents everything the White House defense team said in their Saturday presentation on the Senate floor didn’t exist. 

Here’s the bottom line: 24 hours ago, the impeachment trial was on track to be wrapped up by Friday or Saturday of this week. A vote to move to consider witnesses was short of GOP votes and how quick Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell could move to the vote to acquit had become the central question in GOP circles.

For the moment, all of that is scrambled and extremely fluid. Could it still end up that way? Yes. But GOP senators have an awful lot more on their mind as the White House defense team continues its presentation today. 

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham just appeared on Fox News and gave her first reaction to the New York Times report on former national security adviser John Bolton’s book.

She questioned the timing of the report and repeated multiple times it is “not true.”

Grisham also said she didn’t know if the National Security Council had many any edits to Bolton’s book, but added:

Some background: The New York Times report said Trump in August told Bolton that he wanted to continue holding military aid to Ukraine until the country helped with investigations into Democrats — including former Vice President Joe Biden. The report cited multiple people’s descriptions of an unpublished draft manuscript by Bolton.

White House counsel spent just two hours on Saturday — their first of three days for opening arguments — arguing the President’s case.

Compare that to the Democratic House managers, who spoke for around eight hours during their first day of arguments.

Trump’s defense team used just under two hours of their time on Saturday morning. They have about 22 hours left to argue their case.

During the presentation from House managers Friday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, said he spoke with President Trump after one of the proceedings this week and he gave him his thoughts about them so far.

Graham, an ally of the President, said Trump thought Democratic House manager Adam Schiff “did a bad job.” But Graham said he told Trump that Schiff did a “pretty good job.”

He added that Trump was “bored” by the proceedings.

President Trump in August told his then-national security adviser John Bolton that he wanted to continue holding military aid to Ukraine until the country helped with investigations into Democrats — including former Vice President Joe Biden — the New York Times reported Sunday, citing multiple people’s descriptions of an unpublished draft manuscript by Bolton.

A source with direct knowledge of the manuscript told CNN the New York Times’ telling of Bolton’s account of the Ukraine aid hold discussion with Trump is accurate.

Trump’s purported statement, as described by Bolton, would directly tie the US military aid freeze with the President’s requests that Ukraine announce investigations into his political rivals — undermining a key pillar of the President’s impeachment defense that the two circumstances are unrelated.

Remember: There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Joe Biden or his son, Hunter Biden, in Ukraine, and Joe Biden has repeatedly defended his son and himself.

What this news could mean for the impeachment trial: Such a revelation would bolster Democratic claims that Trump abused a public trust and taxpayer cash to try to leverage a foreign government’s help in the 2020 election against one of his possible top opponents.

It would also undermine a key rationale of his defense team’s argument that there were other reasons Trump withheld aid – including his concern over corruption — a claim challenged by substantial previous evidence.