my other defense team of Donald Trump
and his impeachment trial have got more
to think about in part because of this
article from the New York Times quoting
to be a published book written by the
former US national security adviser John
Paulson in this book mr. Bolten says
President Trump told him that he wanted
to hold back military aid for Ukraine
until the Ukrainians had announced an
investigation into his political rival
Joe Biden bear in mind that's exactly
what the Democrats were accusing the
president of when they started this
impeachment process it's also a direct
contradiction of what the president says
his Donald Trump saying I never told
john bolton that the aid for ukraine was
tied to investigations into the
democrats including the Biden's 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 now the big issue that this
connects to is whether new witnesses
will be called during this trial that
can only happen with the majority vote
and the republicans hold 53 of the 100
Senate seats but might republican unity
be cracking we'll look at this some
susan collins a republican senator from
Maine the reports about John Bolton's
book strengthen the case for witnesses
and have prompted a number of
conversations amongst my colleagues she
says so if we consider Susan Collins we
should also consider Mitt Romney also a
senator he remember it would only take
four Republican senators to switch their
vote and then witnesses would be able to
take the stand
here's Mitt Romney I think it's
increasingly likely that other
Republicans will will join those of us
who think we should hear from John
Bolton and whether there are other
witnesses and documents well that's
another matter but I think John Bolton's
relevance to our decision has been come
has become increasingly clear well
here's more evidence of the pressure on
Republican unity says a Kelly Lafleur
tweeting after two weeks it's clear the
Democrats have no case for impeachment
sadly my colleague senator Romney wants
to appease the left by calling witnesses
who'll slander Donald Trump during their
15 minutes of fame she says the circus
is over it's time to move on
Manas bring in Gary O'Donoghue live with
us from Washington DC hi Carrie so they
need for Susan Collins and Mitt Romney
if they
definitely come across or they're just
thinking about it Mitt Romney is a
definite he says he wants to do it and
he'll vote for it Susan Collins is still
a maybe Susan Collins is often and maybe
on all sorts of issues so we'll see
whether that firms up and there are some
others who are thinking about it lisa
murkowski we know from Elizabeth from
Alaska is someone who's been thinking
about it there are others too so they're
also also clearly talking to one another
if you listen to what Mitt Romney said
they're obviously talking to one another
and maybe urge you one another on maybe
holding one another back who knows but
they are getting near in the Bolton
thing the Bolton book has made a huge
difference
Gary stay with us please because all of
this gives Donald Trump's legal team
plenty to think about there into a
second day of getting their defense set
out at the trial in the last couple of
hours we've been hearing from one of the
key lawyers in the Trump defense team
Ken Starr here at home and the world's
longest standing constitutional republic
instead of a once in a century
phenomenon which it had been
presidential impeachment has become a
weapon to be wielded against one's
political opponent in her thoughtful
Wall Street Journal op-ed a week ago
Saturday Peggy Noonan wrote this
impeachment has now been normalized it
won't be a once-in-a-generation Act but
in every administration act Democrats
will regret it when Republicans are
handing out the Pens the pens of the
signing ceremony
well it's certainly curious that Ken
Starr would suggest that this
impeachment process is becoming too
frequent there have only been three in
history this one one a very long time
ago and Bill Clinton in the late 90s
that impeachment was driven by a special
prosecutor Ken Starr no less here he is
giving a press conference at the time
don't remember him expressing any
concerns whatsoever about the
impeachment process being abused for
political gain but I guess his position
on that has evolved and Gary you were
keeping an eye across ken starr's
stateman what did you make of his line
of attack or line of defense I guess I
should say deeply academic kind of real
dive into constitutional history and as
you say the upshot of it really was this
is happening to him too much that won't
I don't think
carried too much sway I think with
Democrats because it was clearly am
innocent
a warning to Democrats this is going to
happen to you when the Republicans are
in power but also him making the
argument which the defense of relied on
a lot in this case that there needs to
be a crime
in order for there to be an impeachment
or a conviction as a result of an
impeachment he says the founders made
that make that very clear in the in the
Constitution a lot of other people
dispute that including a lot of other
constitutional experts but really a plea
if you like from the the former
independent counsel Ken Starr to not do
this sort of thing even though it's set
out as a provision in the Constitution
so while ken starts being academic Susan
Collins and MIT Romney are considering
what to do when do we get to the crux of
this when do the Republicans actually
the senators actually vote on where the
witnesses are going to be allowed I'm
guessing Friday and the reason I say
that is that the president's defense
carries on today and will do as well
tomorrow there's then a period of 16
hours of questions written questions
that senators can put to both sides I
think they'll you know may do that over
a bit of the end of tomorrow but
certainly Wednesday Thursday and then
that's when you get to the business of
votes on documents and witnesses on
Friday and there could be those votes on
Friday and it could in many ways if they
lose the votes in terms of the Democrats
if they lose the votes then you could
see Saturday a vote on on the articles
themselves even and the president could
be cleared by by Monday one more thing I
want to ask you about Gary because as
Gary knows in order for president
Trump's be removed from office
two-thirds of these senators will have
to vote to convict President Trump the
likelihood of that happening given the
Republicans have a majority is very very
low yet during the 2016 US election 1/5
of the now Republican senators
opposed Donald Trump becoming president
they said he wasn't fit for office for
example he is Mitt Romney Donald Trump
is a phony a fraud his promises are as
worthless as a degree from Trump
University or you can listen to Marco
Rubio he ran against Donald Trump for
the Republican nomination there's no way
the party of Lincoln and Reagan is going
to be taken over by a con artist or
Senator Lindsey Graham now a staunch
supporter of President Trump he wasn't
in 2016 Donald Trump would be an
absolute utter disaster for the
Republican poor party destroy
conservatism as we know it we would get
wiped out and it would take generations
to overcome a trump candidacy these
three men are among the 100 senators who
are sitting as jurors in this
impeachment trial and as I saying the
outcome is a foregone conclusion because
both the Republicans and Democrats at
the moment seem set to vote on party
lines and the Republicans have a
majority so we expect Donald Trump to
stay in office during a recent TV
interview Lindsey Graham said the thing
will come to the Senate I'll do
everything I can to make it die quickly
I'm not trying to pretend to be a fair
juror here remind all 100 senators took
an oath to be impartial during this
trial so what's causing these men to
change from wanting to stop Donald Trump
to wanting to help him stay in office
well we're not the only one wondering
this here's an article in The New York
Times headline where's Lindsey after
Republican outcry Graham emerges as a
trump defender and this article
highlights the mr. Graham's up for
re-election this year in South Carolina
that's a state Donald Trump won
convincingly and where he's still
popular and this is a platinum and
Republicans facing re-election and this
perhaps helps us understand why a recent
Gallup poll shows 88% of Republicans
approve of the job president Trump is
doing at the moment
politically it may well make sense for
these senators to stick by the president
we also know Newsweek has picked up on a
similar story it's reporting that 30
Republican senators would vote to
impeach the president if the vote was
done in secret that's according to one
conservative strategist who was speaking
to a Republican senator of course we're
not able to verify that but you get the
questions that these articles are
raising
Guerry O'Donoghue again it's a tough one
for some of these men to explain isn't
it Gary yes it is and those clips are
very powerful and that was only three
years ago three and a half years ago and
the they've all done 180-degree turn
abouts on it haven't they in and I think
a lot of the pee a lot of those in the
Senate will be frightened of coming out
against the president and what that
might what impact they might have on
their electoral prospects also a lot of
them funnily enough for a frightened of
the sort of Twitter tirade that might
come their way that that kind of level
of sort of opprobrium poured on your
head doesn't feel very nice with when
you've got 60 million of the president's
followers piling in on you as well so
there are all sorts of reasons but it
just shows you the level and the depth
of partisanship in this country that
people will be prepared to to stick by
this president even though it goes
completely contrary to what they've said
in the past go just for let you go a
quick word about the chronology of
American politics this year this is
playing out in Washington when do the
primaries kick in for the Democrats when
do we have to look in two directions at
the same time you've got a week to wait
for that at this time next week Monday
next week the the Iowa caucus is the
first of the votes for the Democratic
nomination that will take place then on
Tuesday of next week of course we've got
the State of the Union address where the
president goes to the Capitol stands in
the House of Representatives sets out
his priorities and his vision for his
last year in office that he'd very much
like to do that as a president who've
been acquitted on articles of
impeachment