Monday on MSNBC’s “Deadline,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) said if President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton had willingly testified in the Senate impeachment trial, the president could have been removed.
Swalwell then theorized that it would have changed the result of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States.
Swalwell said, “Donald Trump thinks that classified information is what you read in the back pages of a newspaper. He has no idea what classified information is, but we do know that there has been an intent by the Trump administration to try to classify information that they think is harmful. Look, John Bolton showing up on the scene now with a book is like a firefighter showing up at a building that’s already burned with a fire hose and saying, guys, I got this. It’s too late. So, I frankly don’t really, you know, care to read what’s in the book, but I do want to read Fiona Hill’s book, or Bill Taylor’s book, or Marie Yovanovitch’s book, or the other people who had the courage to show up and do the right thing instead of letting our democracy burn before their eyes.”
He added, “We asked him twice. He was asked during the House investigation, and then he threatened to take us to court. We didn’t have time to fight in the courts as the president was trying to rig the upcoming election. We felt like we had enough evidence, his could have, of course, could have corroborated that evidence. And then he was asked to give an affidavit by Chairman Schiff during the impeachment trial in the Senate. Both times he walked away from his duty. But just imagine, had he had the courage to come forward, and the president would have been removed, we could have seen a COVID crisis that was not as bad as it is right now. We could have seen, you know, perhaps some teaming in this country, as we continue to recognize Black Lives Matter and we need police reforms. Instead, John Bolton, one of the few persons that could have brought true accountability to this president, really abdicated that duty.”
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