“I’m not afraid of him, but also I’m not afraid of what he has to say. It also begs the question why didn’t we subpoena him in the House?” Crenshaw of Texas told NBC’s Kasie Hunt on Sunday.
“There was no deadline here for impeachment, right? We could have actually gone through this. We could have gone through the subpoenas. We could have had him come and testify to the House. When you’ve already voted on it the implication is that you have enough evidence.”
Bolton is a former top national security adviser to Trump. Democrats believe Bolton could hold key evidence to strengthen their impeachment case against Trump, who is accused of abusing his power and obstructing Congress in its efforts to investigate the alleged misconduct.
Democrats had sought testimony from Bolton during their inquiry. But when he did not appear at a closed-door deposition in November they chose not to subpoena him because they did not want to become tangled in another months-long legal challenge.
The White House had asserted executive privilege to block testimony by former officials, which the House has challenged in an ongoing court case centered on ex-White House Counsel Don McGahn.
Then in mid-December, with an election year looming, the House voted to impeach Trump of two articles. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has delayed sending the articles up to the Senate for a trial in a dispute over how it will be handled by the Republican leadership.
Pelosi wants the Senate to demand new witnesses and evidence but the GOP is pushing for a quick trial based on the current evidence gathered during the House impeachment inquiry. Bolton released a statement saying that, if subpoenaed by the Senate, he would testify.
A trial is imminent after Pelosi moved to bring a resolution on sending the articles over. But there is as yet no public commitment by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, that he will call for new witnesses and evidence to the Senate.
“With McConnell, the process he wants to play out, the Senate can still vote and have people come and testify,” Crenshaw told NBC. “The devil’s in the detail there. There’s some implication that that’s not what’s happening. But it is. You can still vote to have witnesses come and testify.”
Newsweek asked Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for comment by email and will update this article if any is provided.
On Sunday, Pelosi did not rule out during an appearance on ABC’s This Week subpoenaing Bolton to testify before the House if the Senate fails to bring him in as a witness.
Pelosi said the House issuing a subpoena to Bolton is “not excluded…but we’ll see what they do. But we do think there’s enough evidence to remove the president from office.”
Trump is accused of soliciting Ukraine’s interference in the election to benefit his campaign by conditioning $391 million in military aid and a White House meeting for President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Kyiv opening unfounded corruption investigations into Democrats.
The U.S. president denies any wrongdoing, says there was no quid pro quo, and claims to have been legitimately pursuing allegations of corruption in Ukraine.
