S.

National security adviser John Bolton.

In this book, Mr Bolton says President Trump told him that he wanted to hold back military aid for Ukraine until Ukrainians had announced investigation into his political rival, Joe Biden.

Bear in mind, that's exactly what the Democrats were accusing the president off when they started this impeachment process.

It's also a direct contradiction of what the president says Donald Trump, saying I never told John Bolton that the aid for Ukraine was tied to investigations into the Democrats, including the Bidens.

In fact, he never complained about this at the time of his very public termination.

If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book.

Now the big issue that this connects to is whether new witnesses will be called during this trial.

That can only happen with the majority vote on the Republicans hold 53 of the 100 Senate seats.

But might Republican unity be cracking well look at this from Susan Collins, a Republican senator from Maine.

The reports about John Barton's book strengthen the case for witnesses and have prompted a number of conversations amongst my colleagues, she says.

So if we consider Susan Collins, we should also consider Mitt Romney, also a senator.

He remember it would only take four Republican senators to switch their vote, and then witnesses would be able to take the stand.

Is Mitt Romney I think it's increasingly likely that other Republicans will will join those of us who think we should hear from John Bolton and whether there are other witnesses and documents?

Well, that's another matter.

But I think John Bolton's relevance to our decision has been come has become increasingly clear.

What is more evidence of the pressure on Republican unity says that Kelly Loeffler tweeting after two weeks, it's clear the Democrats have no case for impeachment.

Sadly, my Connick, Senator Romney wants to appease the left by calling witnesses who will slander Donald Trump during their 15 minutes of fame.

She says the circus is over.

It's time to move on.

I want to bring in Gary O.

Donohue all over this from Washington D.

C.

Hi Gary.

So they need four Susan Collins and Mitt Romney if they definitely come across.

So they're just thinking about it.

Mitt Romney is a definite he says he wants to do it and they will vote for it.

Susan Collins is still a Maybe Susan Collins is often, maybe on all sorts of issues.

So we'll see whether that firms up.

And there are some others who are thinking about it.

Lisa McCown Ski We know from L.

A from Alaska is someone who's been thinking about it.

There are others, too, so they're also also clearly talking to one another.

If you listen to what Mitt Romney said, there are obviously talking to one another and maybe urge you want another own, maybe holding one another back, who knows?

But they are getting nearer.

And the Bolton thing.

The Bolton Book has made a huge difference.

Stay with us, please, because all of this gives Donald Trump's legal team plenty to think about their into a second day of getting their defense set out at the trial.

In the last couple of hours, we've been hearing from one of the key lawyers in the Trump defense team, Ken Starr here at home and the world's longest standing constitutional republic instead of a once in a century phenomenon which it had been presidential impeachment has become a weapon to be wielded against one's political opponent and her thoughtful Wall Street Journal op ed.

A week ago Saturday, Peggy Noonan wrote, This impeachment has now been normalized.

It won't be a once in a generation act, but in every administration act, Democrats will regret it when Republicans are handing out the pens, the pens of the signing ceremony.

Well, it's certainly curious that Ken Starr would suggest that this impeachment process is becoming to frequent.

Everybody mean three in history, this 11 a very long time ago and Bill Clinton in the late nineties that impeachment was driven by a special prosecutor, Ken Starr, no less.

Here he is giving a press conference at the time.

I don't remember him expressing any concerns whatsoever about the impeachment process being abused for political gain, but I guess his position on that has evolved.

Gary, you were keeping I across Ken Starr statement.

What did you make of is line of attack or line of defense?

I guess I should say deeply academic, kind of real dive into constitutional history.

And as you say, the upshot of it really was This is happening to too much.

That won't I don't think carried too much sway, I think with Democrats, because it was clearly a menace and a warning to Democrats.

This is gonna happen to you when Republicans are in power, but also him making the argument which there, the defense have relied on a lot in this case that there needs to be a crime in order for there to be an impeachment or a conviction is the result of an impeachment, he says.

The founders made that very clear in the in the Constitution.

A lot of other people dispute that, including a lot of other constitutional experts, but really a plea, if you like from the former independent counsel, Ken Starr, to not do this sort of thing, even though it's set out as a provision in the Constitution.

So while Ken starts being academic Susan Collins and Mitt Romney considering what to do, when do we get to the crux of this?

When do the Republicans actually the senators actually vote on whether witnesses are going to be allowed.

I'm guessing Friday on.

The reason I say that is that the president's defense carries on today and will do as well tomorrow.

There's in a period of 16 hours of questions written questions that senators come put to both sides.

I think they'll may do that over a bit of end of tomorrow, but certainly Wednesday and Thursday on then.

That's when you get to the business of votes on documents and witnesses on Friday, and there could be those votes on Friday on it could in many ways, if they lose the votes in terms of the Democrats, if they lose the votes and you could see Saturday a vote on on the articles themselves, even the president could be cleared by by Monday.

One more thing.

I want to ask you about Gary because, as Gary knows, in order for President Trump's be removed from office, 2/3 of these senators will have to vote to convict President Trump.

The likelihood of that happening, given the Republicans, have a majority, is very, very low.

Yet during the 2016 U.

S election of fifth of the now Republican senators opposed Donald Trump becoming president.

They said he wasn't fit for office.

For example, he is Mitt Romney.

Donald Trump is a phony.

A fraud.

His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University.

Listen to Marco Rubio.

He ran against Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.

There's no way the party of Lincoln and Reagan is gonna be taken over by a con artist or Senator Lindsey Graham, now a store supporter of President Trump.

He wasn't in 2016.

Donald Trump would be an absolute utter disaster for the Republican poor party.

Destroy conservatism as we know it.

We would get white doubt, and it take generations overcome a trump candidacy.

These three men are among the 100 senators who was sitting as jurors in this impeachment trial on as are saying, the outcome is a foregone conclusion because both the Republicans and Democrats at the moment seems set to vote on party lines and the Republicans have a majority.

So we expect Donald Trump to stay in office.

During a recent TV interview, Lindsey Graham said, The thing will come to the Senate.

I'll do everything I can to make it die quickly.

I'm not trying to pretend to be a fair jury here.

Their mind.

All 100 senators took an oath to be impartial during this trial.

So what's causing these men to change from wanting to stop?

Donald Trump wanted to help him stay in office.

While we're not the only one wondering, this is an article in The New York Times headline Where's Lindsay?

After Republican Outcry, Graham emerges as a Trump defender, and this article highlights that Mr Graham's up for re election this year in South Carolina.

That's a state Donald Trump, one convict city on where he's still popular.

And this is a pattern amount Republicans facing reelection.

And this perhaps helps us understand why a recent Gallup Poll shows 88% of Republicans approve of the job President Trump is doing at the moment.

Politically, it may well make sense for these senators to stick by the president.

We also know Newsweek has picked up on a similar story.

It's reporting that 30 Republican senators would vote to impeach the president if the vote was done in secret.

That's according to one conservative strategist who was speaking to a Republican senator.

Of course, we're not able to verify that, but you get the questions that these articles are raising.

Let's bring in Gary a dollar, if you again.

It's a tough one for some of these men to explain, isn't it, Gary?

Yes, it is.

On.

Those clips are very powerful.

And that was only three years ago, 3.5 years ago, and the they've all done 1 80 degree turnabouts on it haven't 1,000,000 I think.

Ah, a lot of the P.

A lot of those in the Senate will be frightened of coming out against the president and what that might impact that might have on their electoral prospects.

Also, a lot of them funny enough or are frightened of the sort of Twitter tirade that might come their way.

That that kind of level of of sort of opprobrium poured on your head doesn't feel very nice with when you've got 60 million of the president's followers piling in on you as well.

So there are all sorts of reasons, but it just shows you the level and the depth of partisanship in this country that people will be prepared to to stick by this president even though it goes completely contrary to what they said in the past.

Go destroy.

Let you Go.

A quick word about the chronology of American politics this year.

This is playing out in Washington.

When do the primaries kick in for the Democrats?

When do we have to look in two directions at the same time?

You've got a week to wait for that neck, this time next week.

Monday next week.

The the Iowa caucuses, the first of the votes for the Democratic nomination that will take place then, on Tuesday of next week.