Acting White House Chief of State Mick Mulvaney was reportedly not involved in a discussion on Ukraine aid between former national security adviser John Bolton and President Donald Trump, according to his lawyer.
Bob Driscoll, Mulvaney’s attorney, dismissed revelations of an alleged conversation between Bolton and the president reported by The New York Times which cited a leaked excerpt from Bolton’s upcoming book. The report alleged that Mulvaney was in the room when the president spoke with his lawyer Rudy Giuliani about U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch.
Mulvaney has “no recollection” of the alleged call, Driscoll said Monday in response to the leaked excerpt.
“The latest story from the New York Times, coordinated with a book launch, has more to do with publicity than the truth,” the statement read.
Statement says Mulvaney never had this kind of conversation with the president himself. Also says he has “no recollection” of the conversation Bolton says he was present for between Giuliani and Trump. https://t.co/ezE0a8fgV6
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 27, 2020
“John Bolton never informed Mick Mulvaney of any concerns surrounding Bolton’s purported August conversation with the President,” Driscoll said in the statement.
“Nor did Mr. Mulvaney ever have a conversation with the President or anyone else indicating that Ukrainian military aid was withheld in exchange for a Ukrainian investigation of Burisma, the Bidens, or the 2016 election,” he added.
The president fired back at the New York Times report on Bolton’s unpublished book manuscript, saying he “NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens” and accused his former national security adviser of simply trying “to sell a book.”
‘It’s only to sell a book’: Trump fires back at Bolton’s leaked manuscript claims, Dems pounce hard https://t.co/FxTzorqll1
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) January 27, 2020
“Furthermore, Mr. Mulvaney has no recollection of any conversation with Mr. Giuliani resembling that reportedly described in Mr. Bolton’s manuscript,” Mulvaney’s lawyer continued. “It was Mr. Mulvaney’s practice to excuse himself from conversations between the President and his personal counsel to preserve any attorney-client privilege.”
The timing of the release of the Times’ report and Bolton’s book excerpts was called out by many as “suspicious” on Monday, given the ongoing Senate impeachment trial.
John Bolton is running the exact same revenge playbook against Trump that James Comey used. He’s even using the same agent and leaking to the same reporters. All because he’s mad Trump fired him for leaking and trying to start new wars. It’s so boring and predictable.
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) January 27, 2020
The latest claims have, not surprisingly, fueled Democrats’ demands that senators call on witnesses in the impeachment trial.
New Stmt from House Impeachment Managers: “There can be no doubt now that Mr. Bolton directly contradicts the heart of the President’s defense and therefore must be called as a witness at the impeachment trial of President Trump.” pic.twitter.com/nVJ9B0xl9U
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) January 27, 2020
The Bolton reports make it all the more mystifying that the House did not even issue a subpoena to him during the impeachment inquiry. Democrats cannot argue that they did much of anything to compel his testimony.
— Byron York (@ByronYork) January 27, 2020
Twitter users weighed in on the Mulvaney statement and on Bolton’s alleged attempt to boost book sales.
Given the rolling debacle that is Bolton’s book leak operation, I’m not sure that man really wants to be questioned under oath about his or his team’s secret interactions with the media over the last year, or their discussions about how to use impeachment to juice book sales.
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) January 27, 2020
Democrats hated Bolton until today. Now he is their savior. We have see this before.
— CV (@usmcyatyas12) January 27, 2020
Americans know the Democrats and NYT will be dropping rumors and attacks on-and-on to influence this trial. They did the same thing during the Kavanaugh confirmation and tried to ruin his family. It’s shameful, but it’s the Democrat way. Americans need to call them out for it.
— Josef (@joseflopez98) January 27, 2020
Wow, More anonymous sources.
A DRAFT manuscript that was submitted to the White House for review suddenly appears in the NYSlimes the day before Day 2 of the defense…..shocking.
— Dax Dushkewich (@dushkewich) January 27, 2020
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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