John Bolton's table-turning book on President Donald Trump is not only drawing criticism from the White House he criticizes, but also Democrats still angry he refused to testify to impeach the president.
The leader of that impeachment, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., ripped Bolton for an "unconscionable delay" of remarks he could have made in impeachment hearings instead of saving them for the book "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir."
Schiff tweeted:
"Bolton's staff were asked to testify before the House to Trump's abuses, and did. They had a lot to lose and showed real courage. When Bolton was asked, he refused, and said he’d sue if subpoenaed. Instead, he saved it for a book. Bolton may be an author, but he's no patriot."
Still, Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, vowed to use Bolton's allegations to "judge Republicans" before the upcoming elections:
"Notwithstanding Bolton's unconscionable delay, his allegations are serious. They again demonstrate that Trump's impeachable conduct with Ukraine was part of a clear pattern: Seeking personal political benefit from foreign powers. History will judge Republicans. Harshly."
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., piled on Bolton for not helping in the impeachment push, which the House has kept "ongoing."
"What we've just learned makes it even more difficult to understand why Amb. Bolton did not testify during the House's impeachment inquiry," Engel's statement read.
"If President Trump urged the Chinese leader to help with his re-election, just as he pressed the Ukrainian leader to do, the American people deserved to know that information. The House will continue to look for answers wherever we may find them about the president's abuses and corruption. I will be consulting with the Speaker and my fellow chairs on next steps in this matter."
Bolton runs a political action committee that supports Republicans, but his book might not do Republicans any favors. A noted defender of President Trump in Schiff's House impeachment inquiry, Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., is trying to run for Senate and rebuked the former National Security Adviser Bolton as selling out Republicans for Democrats.
Collins tweeted:
"$2 million. Apparently that's all it took for John Bolton to sell off what little credibility he had left."
Collins also turned his ire back on Schiff for trying to rush through impeachment:
"We've been through this before, @RepAdamSchiff. You could have subpoenaed Bolton, but you were too obsessed with the clock and calendar. You botched #shamimpeachment. It's over. Move on!"
The Trump administration's Justice Department sued Bolton on Tuesday to stop the publication of a book the White House says contains classified information.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany claimed in a briefing Wednesday the memoir is "full of classified information, which is inexcusable."
The back-and-forth is already making Bolton's "The Room Where it Happened" the No. 1 bestseller on Amazon based on presale orders, according to the site's sales tracker.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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