With Bolton Willing to Testify Before Senate, Sanders Asks Trump: 'What Are You Afraid Of?'

After former National Security Adviser John Bolton announced Monday that he would be willing to testify in a Senate impeachment trial against President Donald Trump, Sen. Bernie Sanders demanded the president answer one question:

“What are you afraid of?”

As Common Dreams reported Monday, Bolton said that if he was issued a subpoena, he would have no legal choice but to appear before the Senate to testify on Trump’s attempt to bribe the Ukrainian government to announce an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden.

Bolton reportedly described the effort, which took place just weeks before Trump fired him, as a “drug deal.”

If nothing wrong was done, Sanders reasoned on Twitter and in a press statement, there should be no reason for the president to oppose a “full and fair impeachment trial.”

“President Trump claims he is innocent of all charges, that he did nothing wrong, and that he never withheld military aid to Ukraine in exchange for political favors,” the Vermont Independent senator said. “If you are not guilty of corruption and abuse of power, you should welcome the testimony of your former national security advisor and other witnesses.”

Sanders’s challenge to the president came on the heels of statements by his Democratic colleagues, who said Bolton’s willingness to testify made it clear that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)—who indicated last month that he was reticent to call witnesses for an impeachment trial—must subpoena Bolton and other witnesses.

If not, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, Republican leaders would “make absolutely clear they are participating in a cover-up.”

House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), are currently holding onto the impeachment articles against Trump until the Senate Republicans commit to presiding over a fair trial.