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Scott McIntyre for The Washington Post

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told Democrats in a closed-door meeting Tuesday that she will not send articles of impeachment to the Senate until she learns more about how the chamber would conduct a potential trial, according to three people present for her remarks who were not authorized to comment publicly.

The news came hours after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that Republicans have enough votes to proceed with President Trump’s impeachment trial with no agreement with Democrats on witnesses.

Earlier Tuesday, Trump highlighted objections to the prospect of testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton, as Bolton’s announcement that he is prepared to appear at a trial continued to roil Capitol Hill.

The crux of the Democrats’ case is the allegation that Trump tried to leverage a White House meeting and military aid, sought by Ukraine to combat Russian military aggression, to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch an investigation of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, as well as a probe of an unfounded theory that Kyiv conspired with Democrats to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

●Bolton’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/boltons-willingness-to-testify-in-trumps-impeachment-trial-ramps-up-pressure-on-senate-republicans/2020/01/06/f14a4e5a-30b3-11ea-a053-dc6d944ba776_story.html">willingness to testify in Trump’s impeachment trial</a> ramps up pressure on Senate Republicans.

●Bolton says he would testify to the Senate. So <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/01/06/john-boltons-big-announcement-testifying-what-it-means/">why not</a> the House?

●What <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/powerup/2020/01/07/powerup-what-does-john-bolton-know/5e13a2a188e0fa32a51482c8/">does Bolton know</a>?

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/politics/senate-impeachment-votes/">Which senators support removing Trump</a> | <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/politics/house-impeachment-votes/?tid=lk_inline_manual_12&amp;tid=lk_inline_manual_11">Which House members voted to impeach Trump</a> | <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/resolution-impeaching-president-trump-for-high-crimes-and-misdemeanors/4318bc85-4770-47eb-a569-9a051fa3ebfb/">House resolution impeaching Trump</a> | <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/politics/key-documents-trump-impeachment/" title="www.washingtonpost.com">Other key documents</a>

In a letter to Democratic lawmakers Tuesday night, Pelosi hinted that she would not submit the articles nor tap House impeachment managers — who will effectively serve as the prosecution in the Senate — until McConnell publicly releases the legislation that would detail the parameters and procedures for the trial.

“Sadly, Leader McConnell has made clear that his loyalty is to the President and not the Constitution,” Pelosi <a href="https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/1720-0" title="www.speaker.gov">wrote in the letter</a> to colleagues. “Leader McConnell has insisted that the approach under consideration is identical to those of the Clinton trial and that ‘fair is fair.’ This is simply not true. This process is not only unfair but designed to deprive Senators and the American people of crucial documents and testimony. Under the Clinton trial, witnesses were deposed.”

Seung Min Kim

A lawsuit alleging that Trump sexually assaulted a former “Apprentice” contestant more than a decade ago can be heard by New York’s highest state court, a panel of judges ruled Tuesday.

The decision by an appellate division of the New York Supreme Court granted Trump’s legal team’s request to have the case heard by the New York Court of Appeals. Trump’s team has argued that he should not be subject to actions in state courts while he is in the White House.

Trump had been scheduled to give a deposition by Jan. 31, but that is now on hold.

A statement from the firm of Trump’s lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, said “we are pleased” about the decision. “We believe that the Court of Appeals will agree that the U.S. Constitution bars state court actions while the President is in office,” the statement read.

Read more <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/new-yorks-highest-court-can-hear-sexual-misconduct-lawsuit-against-trump-judges-rule/2020/01/07/48317c88-3196-11ea-898f-eb846b7e9feb_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-cards_hp-card-politics%3Ahomepage%2Fcard-ans&itid=lk_inline_manual_19" title="www.washingtonpost.com">here</a>.

Joshua Partlow

Pelosi told Democrats in a closed-door meeting Tuesday night that she would not move to transmit articles of impeachment to the Senate until she learns more about how the other chamber would conduct the trial, according to three people present for her remarks who were not authorized to comment publicly.

The remarks, indicating that she wanted to see the specific rules of procedure for the trial, came as Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other Senate Democrats hinted that they were ready to proceed with a trial after McConnell said this week that Republicans would not agree to subpoena additional witnesses and documents before the trial begins.

Mike DeBonis

Rachael Bade

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said Tuesday that the Jan. 14 Democratic presidential debate will be postponed if a Senate impeachment trial is underway at that time.

Several of the Democratic presidential contenders are members of the Senate.

“Well, Democrats and our senators can walk and chew gum,” Perez said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Velshi & Ruhle.” “Obviously, if there’s a trial on the 14th, then we’ll move the debate. If there’s not, then we’re going to have the debate. And at the moment, all systems are go.”

Felicia Sonmez

Trump has invited Zelensky to the White House and instructed the Ukrainian government to begin preparing for the visit, Ukraine’s new ambassador to the United States wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

Ukrainian Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko said he presented his credentials to Trump on Monday at the White House and recounted how Trump said he would be happy to welcome Zelensky to the White House during the ceremony.

In a tweet afterward in Ukrainian, Yelchenko noted that Trump said he had a high opinion of Zelensky, who he said was leading Ukraine on the right path toward carrying out reforms and overcoming corruption.

“I would be happy to welcome him at the White House and instruct him to begin preparations for the visit immediately,” Yelchenko wrote in a paraphrase of what he said Trump told him.

Zelensky hasn’t visited the White House since he became Ukraine’s president in May. The Trump administration’s decision to withhold a sought-after White House meeting until Zelensky publicly committed to investigating a Ukrainian gas company that put Hunter Biden on its board is at the heart of congressional impeachment proceedings.

A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Paul Sonne

Two of the Senate GOP’s most moderate members endorsed McConnell’s plan to forge ahead with a trial plan without Democratic support and determine later whether witnesses should be called.

Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) said she supports the idea of a three-pronged trial, with the third step being a vote on whether to call witnesses only after the prosecution and defense make their cases and answer senators’ written questions.

Asked whether she wants the Senate to call witnesses, Collins said, “I want a vote on whether to call witnesses.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) said she had hoped McConnell would have reached an agreement with Democrats on how to proceed, but absent that, she said McConnell’s plan is “reasonable.” She said she would vote for it, all but ensuring that the GOP Leader would have support from all 53 members of his caucus.

Murkowski added that in voting for it, she would “make sure that we’ve laid out very clearly what this framework is in terms of timeline and the ability to move to witnesses.”

Elise Viebeck

Colby Itkowitz

In an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday afternoon, Trump declined to say whether he supports Bolton testifying, saying only that his former national security adviser “would know nothing about what we’re talking about” on Ukraine.

“That’s going to be up to the lawyers,” Trump said. “It’ll be up to the Senate, and we’ll see how they feel. He would know nothing about what we’re talking about, because as you know, the Ukrainian government came out with a very strong statement: No pressure, no anything. And this [is] from the boss; that’s from the president of Ukraine.”

If Bolton does testify, he <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mulvaneys-move-to-join-impeachment-testimony-lawsuit-rankles-bolton-allies/2019/11/10/06f3553a-0332-11ea-8bab-0fc209e065a8_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_43" title="www.washingtonpost.com">is expected to corroborate</a> the accounts of former aides who have testified that he was alarmed that military aide was being withheld from Ukraine as Trump and his aides pushed for investigations that could damage Democrats.

Schumer said Senate Democrats will press for votes on witnesses and documents during the trial, putting Republicans on record about “a fair trial.”

“If you’re afraid of the facts, if you’re afraid of what will come out, if you want to cover it up even in something as weighty and serious as impeachment, you say no witnesses and no documents,” Schumer told reporters. “Witnesses and documents? Fair trial. No witnesses and no documents? A coverup.”

Asked whether Pelosi should send the articles now, Schumer said Pelosi’s delay was in part so she could access the playing field.

“She wanted to see the arena in which she was playing when it came to a trial so she could appoint impeachment managers,” he said. “Now it’s becoming clear that Mitch McConnell will do whatever he can to avoid a fair trial, so she has some idea of what’s happening.”

He said the delay had already been successful in ensuring that McConnell couldn’t simply dismiss the trial before the holidays, and the intervening weeks allowed time for more evidence to be revealed.

McConnell said Tuesday afternoon publicly what he earlier told Republican senators privately: that he has the votes to proceed with Trump’s impeachment trial with no agreement with Democrats on witnesses.

Speaking to reporters, McConnell said he has the votes — once the House sends the articles of impeachment to the Senate — to begin a trial with a rule similar to one adopted for the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton two decades ago.

Under the rule, the Senate will decide on calling witnesses after hearing opening statements from House impeachment managers and lawyers for Trump and posing questions to both sides through the chief justice.

Asked if he could guarantee witnesses will be called, McConnell said that would be discussed after the Senate votes to proceed, and not before.

“The way it works, at the risk of being redundant, is that 51 senators determine what we do, and there will be, I’m sure, an intense discussion … about the whole witness issue,” McConnell said. “The people calling the witnesses won’t necessarily be us, it will be the prosecution or the defense.”

McConnell said he hoped Pelosi would send the articles by the end of the week, adding that the delay was causing “considerable discomfort” among some Senate Democrats.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said, it’s “time for Pelosi to get on with it or get out of the way.”

John Wagner

McConnell told Republican senators in a closed-door party lunch Tuesday that he is prepared to proceed with Trump’s impeachment trial with no agreement on witnesses, according to two officials familiar with his comments.

McConnell said he has the minimum of 51 votes to begin the trial in the format that he has long envisioned: opening arguments for both the House impeachment managers and for Trump’s defense team, as well as ample time for questioning by senators, said the two people on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private meeting.

The vote would be held after the Senate receives the articles from the House, and a decision would be made on whether to call witnesses once the first phase of the trial is over, under the majority leader’s plan.

Senate Republican leaders did a final vote check Tuesday morning to make sure they have the votes for McConnell’s plan, according to a GOP senator familiar with the discussions.

That echoes the format of President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial that was held 21 years ago, and McConnell has been able to convince his members that Trump should be treated in the same fashion.

Democrats have been pressuring a cadre of persuadable Republican senators to demand a slate of four witnesses before the trial begins, an effort that ramped up Monday after Bolton announced that he would testify if subpoenaed by the Senate.

But Bolton’s announcement did not appear to move any of the Republicans who may have sided with Democrats such as Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska). Both indicated Monday that a decision on witnesses could be made further into the trial.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said he would like to hear from Bolton, but did not endorse subpoenaing him to do so.

“The Clinton trial process provided a pathway for there to be witnesses,” Romney said Tuesday. “And presuming we have a process like that, again I would be able to support the Clinton impeachment process.”

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said Tuesday that he would like to see the Senate pass the reworked North American free-trade deal before holding the impeachment trial.

Grassley commented after the Finance Committee cleared the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on a 25-to-3 vote. The trade pact is an update to the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement. Trump signed the USMCA more than a year ago with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, and it passed the House overwhelmingly last month after Democrats pressed for changes supported by organized labor.

“If it can be brought up before the impeachment vote, it’d be very important to get this,” Grassley said. “The sooner it gets done, for the good of the economy, the better.”

But Grassley noted that the deal looked sure to pass the Senate whether it comes up before or after impeachment and that, under Senate rules, impeachment would take priority.

The timing of the impeachment trial — and, as a result, of the trade vote — is uncertain because Pelosi has yet to send House-passed articles of impeachment to the Senate. There are also several other Senate committees that may have to act on pieces of the trade deal, but that could happen quickly.

“If the articles of impeachment don’t come over, I believe this can be up,” Grassley said. “We don’t have a lot of other legislative agenda to go to. The only other thing would be nominations.”

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said on Fox Business Channel over the weekend that the Senate could pass the USMCA as soon as this week.

But Sen. John Cornyn (Tex.), a senior Republican, said that such quick action could present a “procedural challenge” and that the timing of the impeachment trial puts everything up in the air.

“It’s a little bit of a muddle right now,” Cornyn said.

Erica Werner

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Tuesday that Pelosi should go ahead and send the articles of impeachment to the Senate since it appears that McConnell is holding the GOP in line against a deal with Democrats on witnesses for a Senate trial.

“I think the speaker should send the articles regardless,” Murphy told reporters.

Asked whether the time has come, Murphy said: “I think the time has passed. She should send the articles over.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), meanwhile, said Pelosi “has to make a decision based on her own judgment, but my (Republican) colleagues will be in effect aiding and abetting a coverup.”

Asked if there was any point in continuing to hold the articles if Republicans are dug in, Blumenthal said, “Well, there has to be a trial, the Constitution requires it.”

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) said Tuesday that it’s possible his panel could summon Bolton to testify about Trump’s conduct toward Ukraine.

“We haven’t taken that off the table,” Schiff said during an appearance on MSNBC. “I think what makes the most sense, though, frankly, is for him to testify in the Senate trial. … They should hear directly from one of the key witnesses.”

Bolton announced Monday that he is prepared to testify before the Senate if he receives a subpoena. His statement was silent on whether he would provide testimony to the House, and his lawyer did not elaborate when asked.

Schiff was also critical of McConnell and other Republican senators, suggesting that they were more interested in the appearance of holding a trial than actually seeing evidence.

“All they really want is to dismiss the matter, make it go away, so the president’s conduct can be covered up,” Schiff said.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Democratic presidential candidate, said by blocking witnesses and documents in the impeachment probe, the White House has made it difficult to be impartial.

“So long as all we’re hearing is Trump squeezed the president of Ukraine for personal gain … then I don’t see how it’s possible not to vote for impeachment,” she said during an appearance on “The View.” “But bring forward a defense if you’ve got one.”

Warren said she’d keep an open mind and reserve judgment if the White House provided exculpatory evidence in a Senate trial with witnesses called to testify. When the president doesn’t want the public to hear from people or see documents, “I think it’s fair to draw the inference that something is wrong,” she said.

The senator was also asked if she was concerned that a Senate trial would impinge on her campaigning because she’d have to stay behind in Washington as a juror.

“Some things are more important than politics,” Warren said.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) pressed his case for calling witnesses in a Senate impeachment trial, warning in a floor speech that Republicans in the chamber would be part of a “large and awful coverup” if they prevent a full airing of the evidence.

“A trial isn’t a trial without evidence,” Schumer said. “If the president is ultimately acquitted at the end of a sham trial, his acquittal will be meaningless.”

Schumer has been pushing for an agreement to subpoena Bolton and three other officials who did not participate in the House impeachment proceedings, while McConnell has said that decision should wait until after opening statements.

“Right now the Republican leader and I have very different ideas about what it means to conduct a fair trial,” Schumer said.

He said Bolton’s announcement on Monday that he is prepared to testify was telling, particularly given that Bolton has direct knowledge about Trump’s conduct toward Ukraine.

“Republicans were dodging and twisting themselves into pretzels on why Bolton should not testify,” Schumer said.

McConnell laid into Pelosi for continuing to hold on to the articles of impeachment during a floor speech Tuesday, saying the move was “inappropriate,” “embarrassing” and “contemptuous of the American people.”

Pelosi has been holding the two charges — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — in the hope of strengthening the hand of Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) in negotiating with McConnell for witnesses in a Senate trial.

“I’ve had difficulty figuring out where the leverage is,” McConnell said, suggesting that Pelosi’s play is that unless the Senate changes its rules, “then they might never dump this mess in our lap.”

“They want to invent a new sort of pretrial hostage negotiation, where the House gets to run the show over here in the Senate,” McConnell said.

McConnell reiterated his desire to wait to decide about calling witnesses until after opening statements from House impeachment managers and lawyers for the president and a chance for senators to ask written questions of both sides — a procedure followed during the Senate impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in 1999.

“The speaker of the House is not going to handwrite new rules for the Senate,” McConnell said.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham accused Pelosi of obstructing justice because she has yet to send the Senate the articles of impeachment.

“I’ll tell you the irony here,” Grisham said during an appearance on Fox News. “One of the articles of impeachment is obstruction of Congress. I’d argue Nancy Pelosi is obstructing Congress right now because she’s not sending the articles over.”

Grisham’s comment was made in response to a question about Bolton’s willingness to testify in a Senate trial. Grisham said she wouldn’t speak to “who or if people” should testify because the articles hadn’t been sent yet.

Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) pushed back Tuesday on a plan by McConnell to delay a decision about witnesses at a Senate trial until after opening arguments, saying it “doesn’t pass the smell test.”

“My hope again will be that we get a chance to hear from everyone who’s got firsthand knowledge,” Warner told reporters. “These are individuals who could clear the president. I don’t understand why they’re not being allowed to present their facts, and I find that very concerning. And this notion that we’re going to go through the whole proceeding and then potentially have a chance to then decide whether we call witnesses or not doesn’t pass the smell test.”

McConnell has said the plan he is advocating is consistent with the approach taken during the Senate impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in 1999.

Warner also responded to a question about Pelosi’s decision to hold on to the articles of impeachment.

“I may not always agree with her approaches, but nine times out of 10, they’ve worked out,” he said. “I think we’ll get to a trial.”

The campaign arm for Senate Democrats has created a website devoted to knocking Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on impeachment.

The site, WhatChangedSusan.com, focuses on statements the senator made during President Bill Clinton’s impeachment vs. today. In 1999, the site says, Collins pressed for more witnesses and more evidence, but hasn’t made the same demands of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for Trump’s trial.

Collins, who is considered the Senate Republicans’ most moderate member, is also a top target for Democrats to unseat this year.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) suggested Tuesday that Senate testimony from Bolton could actually help Trump’s case, not hurt it.

“He’s a very smart guy, as you know, and I’m sure he would not have said what he said without gaming this thing out,” Cornyn told radio host Hugh Hewitt on his syndicated show. “And it could well be, if he is called as a witness at some point, that his testimony would be enormously helpful to President Trump. And I’m not sure that’s what the Democrats have in mind.”

Hewitt said that he thinks Democrats assume Bolton, who departed in September, is mad at Trump.

“They’re talking, they think of John Bolton as other than the patriot that he is,” Hewitt said. “And he may have had disagreements with people, but there is no way he is going to go up there and advocate for Democratic results and advocate to avoid the actual policy conducted against Ukraine, which I believe you’ll agree was far tougher under President Trump in support of Ukraine than President Obama.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) chuckled during a television interview Tuesday when asked about Pelosi’s delay in transmitting the articles of impeachment.

“It’s still hard for me to fathom how she thinks she’s going to punish Republicans by withholding the impeachment, which none of us favor,” Paul said during an appearance on Fox News. “So she’s punishing us by not sending us the impeachment. I’m happy to be so punished for as long as it takes. She can keep the impeachment over there forever, as far as I’m concerned.”

Rep. Will Hurd (R-Tex.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said he has no say in whether Bolton testifies before the Senate but would like to have heard from Trump’s former national security adviser during the House impeachment proceedings.

“I would have loved to see John Bolton in the House hearing,” Hurd said during an appearance on CNN.

Hurd said that he believes House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) will eventually summon Bolton to a hearing, adding, “I’d participate in the hearing, for sure.”

During the House impeachment proceedings, Hurd was critical of the Trump administration’s actions toward Ukraine, saying it amounted to “bungling foreign policy.” But Hurd said he had not seen sufficient evidence to vote for impeaching Trump.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) sharply criticized Pelosi during a morning television interview, accusing her of holding on to the articles of impeachment because “she’s realizing what a weak case she has.”

“She’s got no leverage on Mitch McConnell, and the House has no leverage over the Senate,” McCarthy said during an appearance on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends.”

McCarthy also argued that the Senate should not call witnesses who were not part of the House impeachment proceedings — a posture that would rule out testimony from Bolton.

“It’s not a place for the Senate to have more witnesses,” McCarthy said.

There is no rule that would prevent the Senate from doing so.

Trump went on Twitter shortly after the interview to praise McCarthy’s performance.

“Great interview with @GOPLeader Kevin McCarthy on @foxandfriends,” he tweeted.

Trump on Tuesday highlighted the view of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) that a Senate impeachment trial should be limited to the same testimony and evidence considered by the House — a standard that would preclude hearing testimony from Bolton.

“Worth repeating,” Rubio said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/1214271082812919809">tweet </a>retweeted by the president to his nearly 70 million followers. “The testimony & evidence considered in a Senate impeachment trial should be the same testimony & evidence the House relied upon when they passed the Articles of Impeachment. Our job is to vote on what the House passed, not to conduct an open ended inquiry.”

Bolton’s surprise announcement on Monday that he is willing to testify in the Senate complicated the political calculus for Republicans, many of whom have rallied around the idea of a quick trial with few, if any, witnesses.

But Bolton’s announcement bolstered Senate Democrats, who want to subpoena Trump’s former national security adviser and several other officials who declined to participate in the House impeachment proceedings.

Amid a spate of other morning tweets and retweets focused on impeachment and tensions with Iran, Trump also highlighted posts by Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) complaining about “stunts” by Pelosi.

“Speaker Pelosi argued to the American people it was imperative that impeachment move forward ASAP because @realDonaldTrump was a threat to the country,” Graham tweeted. “Now she is sitting on the Articles and trying to run the Senate — denying President Trump his day in court. President Trump and America deserve better!”

The spotlight on Pelosi will intensify as the House reconvenes for its new session Tuesday night.

Democratic officials last week predicted Pelosi would deliver the articles of impeachment to the Senate as soon as this week, though the speaker has kept her plans quiet and her office has refused to detail her timeline.

Pelosi has been holding the two charges — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — in hopes of strengthening the hand of Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) in negotiating with McConnell for witnesses.

Bolton’s statement on Monday that he is prepared to testify in the Senate seemed to create a shift in leverage in favor of the Democrats.

Under current rules, the House must pass a resolution naming its impeachment managers before a Senate trial begins. Pelosi has indicated the focus of the House this week will be on a war powers resolution to limit Trump’s military actions against Iran.

But with lawmakers back in Washington, a barrage of questions is likely about her intentions on delivering the articles of impeachment.

Trump is scheduled to welcome Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to the White House on Tuesday afternoon. The visit includes an Oval Office meeting, part of which will be open to the press.

Trump has used similar meetings with world leaders to air grievances about the impeachment process and discuss other news of the day.

Trump has no other public events on his schedule Tuesday.

Trump late Monday night highlighted a suggestion by the Washington Examiner’s Byron York that testimony by Bolton could be less consequential than some think because the White House could assert executive privilege to limit his answers.

“The White House can assert executive privilege,” York said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/ByronYork/status/1214368847345717248">tweet </a>retweeted by Trump. “It’s not Bolton’s privilege; it’s the president’s. If executive privilege covers anything, it is a talk between president and top adviser on matters of foreign policy.”

Pelosi says impeachment articles won’t go to Senate until she learns more about how trial would be conducted

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