The Democratic push to haul former national security adviser John Bolton before the House has fizzled out roughly a month after the Senate acquitted President Trump.
Bolton had emerged as an alluring figure in the Democrats’ Ukraine investigation following revelations that his forthcoming book includes firsthand accounts that Trump withheld security aid to Kyiv to secure political favors — the crux of the Democrats’ impeachment case.
After Senate Republicans refused Bolton’s offer to testify in January, Democratic leaders floated the idea of reclaiming the baton and issuing their own subpoena to compel his appearance before the House — a strategy still being mulled by party leaders.
Yet in interviews with almost 20 Democratic lawmakers on the committees with jurisdiction over Trump’s Ukraine dealings, the predominant view is that “impeachment fatigue” has dulled the appetite for Bolton’s participation, in the words of one lawmaker. Instead, the months-long Ukraine saga has given way to the 2020 campaign season — and many Democrats are only happy to shift the focus to health care, wages and other bread-and-butter issues that won them control of the House in the 2018 midterms.
“I would have liked to hear what he had to say, and I think that if there’s nothing to hide then we should have listened. But I don’t know that I would be in favor of opening it up again. Then it becomes the never-ending story,” said Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “When he said he was willing to come, that’s when we should have invited him.”
Some Democrats believe that pushing Bolton to testify and continuing the Ukraine investigation could bolster Trump’s reelection campaign, which has used impeachment to raise money and rile up the president’s base.
Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.), a senior member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said Democrats “have moved on, and away from impeachment,” warning that there’s no value in summoning Bolton “unless we’re gonna just reopen this whole inquiry.”
Another Democratic lawmaker familiar with the Bolton debate warned that any effort to compel his testimony would distract from Democrats’ legislative agenda — including emergency efforts to fight the coronavirus — just as the campaign season is heating up.
“It overwhelms the other things that we’re trying to do, so I don’t think it’s going to happen,” the lawmaker said. “That would poison the well for a lot of that stuff.”
And Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, accused Bolton of dangling offers to cooperate — without ever intending to follow through — for the sole purpose of promoting his unreleased book.
“One day he’s teasing something, the next day he’s doing whatever,” said Richmond. “Man up and do it on your own; I have no interest in subpoenaing him.”
To be sure, there are plenty of dissenting voices in the large and diverse Democratic caucus, particularly among more liberal lawmakers who say Congress has a constitutional responsibility to get to the bottom of Trump’s Ukraine policy, regardless of the political concerns. Relying on Bolton’s book, they say, is no substitute for having the longtime national security official testify under oath.
“It’s night and day,” said Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.), a member of the Judiciary Committee. “It’s one thing to read a book, but you’re talking about legal proceedings — judicial proceedings. … We’re talking about our democracy and the influence of foreign governments on our democracy.”
Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, agreed.
“I’ve always thought that he has insights that I would like to see delivered under oath, rather than in a profit-making book,” he said.
The divergent views have created a dilemma for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other House Democratic leaders, who are fighting to keep their majority at the polls in November. To do so will require a delicate balance between energizing liberals, who are more prone to support aggressive steps like subpoenaing Bolton, and protecting moderates in battleground districts, who have struggled through the impeachment debate and are pleased to be beyond it.
Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), who heads the National Republican Congressional Committee, has predicted impeachment will cost Democrats their House majority this fall.
“Everybody would like to hear from Bolton. Everybody. And Bolton should testify,” said Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of both the Intelligence and Oversight and Reform committees. “But can we make him? And is it wise to pursue it in the present moment? I’m not sure.”
Officially, Democratic leaders and committee heads maintain that they’re still weighing their options as they navigate an ever-changing playing field.
“We have not made a decision,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said Tuesday. “I don’t have a timeline,” he added. “I’m going to leave it at that.”
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who heads the Oversight and Reform Committee, was similarly noncommittal.
“We’ll see. Things are under consideration,” she said. “I’ll let you know.”
Complicating their decision has been the uncertainty surrounding the publication of Bolton’s book. Initially scheduled for release on March 17, his publisher announced Tuesday that the date would be pushed to mid-May, pending clearance by the administration, which is screening the memoir for potentially sensitive information.
Trump has reportedly sought to block the publication altogether, leaving Democrats with little confidence it will ever be cleared while the president remains in office.
“I don’t have any confidence that the administration will scrutinize the contents of that book with an eye towards the appropriate classification considerations as opposed to just wanting to silence Mr. Bolton,” Schiff said. “I say that even though I have no great fondness for many of his positions.”
Bolton’s attorney did not respond on Tuesday to questions seeking comment.
Clouding the debate, Bolton had offered to testify under subpoena before the GOP-led Senate, but not before the House, which is controlled by Democrats. That’s only fueled the Democratic accusations that Bolton has used the high-profile impeachment debate to market his forthcoming book.
“There’s a general desire to know what John Bolton knows. But there’s also a concern about getting played. You wouldn’t want to invite him in until you see his book,” said the lawmaker familiar with the debate. “So there is a desire to know what he knows. But you’d want to do that in a way that’s in the interest of the public rather than in the interest of John Bolton.”