Impeachment trial of President Trump

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former Vice President Joe Biden — the New York Times reported Sunday, citing multiple people's descriptions of an unpublished draft manuscript by Bolton.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.