Democrats torn about whether to demand that John Bolton testify

But there’s a fear among some Democrats that Bolton is primarily seeking to capitalize on the spotlight in order to promote his forthcoming tell-all book. What’s more, some key lawmakers believe Bolton’s account is no longer essential.

“John Bolton’s gonna come in front of us and say, the President said, don’t give out the aid until there’s an investigation,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), a member of the Intelligence Committee, told The Daily Beast.“I don’t really believe we’re going to learn a lot more from John Bolton. I want to know what the hell Rudy Giuliani was doing, I want to know why Mike Pompeo didn’t stand up much more… I’m not saying I don’t want to hear from Bolton, I’m just saying, Bolton will tell us what we already know. And he will do it in a way mainly designed to sell his book.”…

Among House Democrats, there’s broad consensus that the party needs to be careful in the steps it takes following Trump’s acquittal. Many in the caucus, especially those lawmakers in competitive districts that took risky votes to impeach Trump, want to move on to issues like infrastructure and health care and leave impeachment behind. But some lawmakers can’t see how Democrats would proceed without making an honest effort to hear from Bolton after having made the case that Trump’s conduct was fundamentally unconstitutional and disqualifying for holding the presidency.