November 11, 2019--John Bolting

Many following the impeachment inquiry have advised, "Follow the money and it will lead you to the truth about what happened."

Trump may be the best example. It could turn out that the bottom bottom line for him has been the pursuit of Russian money that he needed to bail out some of his failed real estate deals. Like his bankrupt gambling casinos in Atlantic City. 

No legitimate bank or investor would want to get involved in lending hundreds of millions to someone whose portfolio was so undercapitalized. So Trump, even before he announced his candidacy, assuming he wouldn't be elected, likely turned to Vladimir Putin, who routinely skimmed off a goodly percentage of any proposed deal with Russia. Like a humongous Trump Tower in Moscow.

Putin got his slice and Trump go his Russian money laundered through the likes of Deutsche Bank. And the rest is history. We as a result have a president bought and paid for by our Russian adversaries.

It may be, though, that the admonition to follow the money doesn't pertain to everyone.

John Bolton, for example.

Yes, he just signed a book deal with Simon & Schuster and will purportedly receive a $2.0 million advance which would make one think that this would mean he is contractually forbidden, until the book is published, to talk about his days in the White House where he served as Trump's national security advisor--save the juicy- gossipy stuff for the book; don't give it away for free when, for example, testifying before Congress.

What then to make of the very curious letter his lawyer on Friday sent to the House committee leading the impeachment inquiry. Seemingly out of the blue it ended with this tease--

His lawyer wrote, "Mr. Bolton was personally involved in many of the events, meetings, and conversations about which you have already received testimony, as well as many relevant meetings and conversations that have not yet been discussed in the testimonies thus far.” [My italics]

This could be an example of one set of Bolton lawyers failing to keep other attorneys in the loop, or something much more interesting.

Until proven otherwise, I'm going with the more interesting scenario.

Yes, Bolton too may be all about the money but as a nuanced operative it is possible he is negotiating with the House investigators for at least one of three reasons--

First, as a genuine, pre-Trump conservative he may want to initiate a constitutional discussion in the federal courts about the extent of presidential power when it comes to invoking executive privilege. This has never been fully vetted and ruled upon by the Supreme Court.

Then, Bolton the political animal may want to appear to be "ordered" to testify by the courts so as not to seem too eager to cooperate with the Democrats who are making haste to vote on impeachment. 

Also, and this is my favorite, Bolton, who we know must despise Trump for numerous obvious reasons, may want to see Trump twist slowly in the wind. We can imagine Trump sleeplessly tossing and turning as he tries to come up with what "meetings and conversations" Bolton is wanting to share with Congress and the American people.

I know, with that hanging over me, I wouldn't be sleeping.

This conundrum could be an example of all of the above. But then it may simply be about selling books. Perhaps Bolton wants to testify on TV as a preview of coming attractions.