Trump denies claims in forthcoming Bolton book

The stakes over witness testimony at President Donald Trump's impeachment trial are rising now that a draft of a book from former national security adviser John Bolton appears to undercut a key defense argument. Bolton writes that Trump told him that he wanted to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in security aid from Ukraine until it helped him with politically charged investigations, including into Democratic rival Joe Biden.

Trump's legal team has repeatedly insisted that the president never tied the suspension of military assistance to the country to investigations that he wanted into Biden and his son. The president denied the claims in a series of tweets early on Monday, saying he “NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens".

"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,” he added. In another tweet, Trump said people could look at transcripts of his call, and statements by Ukraine President Vlodymyr Zelinskiy that there was no pressure for such investigations to get the aid. Bolton's account was first reported by The New York Times.

It was confirmed to The Associated Press by a person familiar with the manuscript on the condition of anonymity to discuss the book, “The Room Where It Happened; A White House Memoir", ahead of its release on 17 March.

The latest developments gave Democrats new fuel in their pursuit of sworn testimony from Bolton and other witnesses, a question expected to be taken up later this week by the Republican-led Senate. The trial resumes on Monday with arguments from Trump's defense team.

(Image Credit: AP)