While editorial boards call Tillis’ position “a cover-up,” Bolton’s bombshell revelation “didn’t change Tillis’ view” on whether to vote for a fair trial

Senator Thom Tillis confirmed yesterday that he’ll continue to be an accomplice in Mitch McConnell’s cover-up, responding that a bombshell new revelation from former National Security Advisor John Bolton – a close Tillis ally and supporter – “hasn’t affected my decision” on whether to vote for a fair trial, a position “he made clear even before the Democrat-controlled House impeached Trump.”

That same day, the Fayetteville Observer editorial board outlined how neither Tillis nor McConnell “have yet offered a solid reason” why there shouldn’t be a fair trial, noting that, “refusing to hear from a high-ranking Trump official who is close to the Ukraine negotiations, and who obviously has relevant news to share, can seem like a cover-up.” That’s because Tillis and McConnell, according to another local editorial board, have “traded partisan expediency” to be the president’s rubber stamp — and Tillis “stated more than a month ago that fact didn’t matter to him.”

Long before the articles of impeachment even reached the Senate chamber, Tillis chose to cover up for his party rather than get to the facts. A month ago, he said he’ll “be voting against” motions to subpoena witnesses. Earlier this month, he argued calling witnesses “a slippery slope” he’d “like to avoid” and voted 10 times at the onset of the trial to kill amendments to subpoena key witnesses and documents.

News & Observer: Tillis says Bolton leak won’t sway him on impeachment witnesses
By Emma Dumain and Brian Murphy
January 27, 2020

Key Points:

• Sen. Thom Tillis said a new account from former Trump administration official John Bolton “hasn’t affected my decision” on whether he will vote to call witnesses in the Senate’s impeachment trial.

• The Republican senator from North Carolina has said he would probably oppose calling witnesses.

• Tillis has also said he plans to vote to acquit President Donald Trump, something he made clear even before the Democrat-controlled House impeached Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

• In an unpublished manuscript described in a New York Times story Sunday, Bolton says Trump told him he wanted to continue withholding the security aid until Ukraine turned over material related to his political rivals Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton.

• Still, the Bolton news didn’t change Tillis’ view.

• Bolton’s political action committee has provided campaign help for Tillis in the past and has endorsed him in his re-election campaign last year, something the state Democratic Party highlighted as it criticized Tillis’ stance last week.

Fayetteville Observer: Our View: John Bolton is the inconvenient man in Trump’s impeachment trial
By the Editorial Board
January 27, 2019

Key Points:

• John Bolton is the most inconvenient man for Donald Trump and his impeachment defense.

• The timing is important in another way: Senators are in the middle of a debate on whether to hear witnesses in the trial.

• But as we argued on Sunday, Americans have by large margins said they want witnesses for both sides. By allowing witnesses, the Senate would be following precedent set in the only two other presidential impeachments, Andrew Johnson in the 1860s and Bill Clinton in the 1990s.

• Refusing to hear from a high-ranking Trump official who is close to the Ukraine negotiations, and who obviously has relevant news to share, can seem like a cover-up…

• Neither of our state’s two Republican U.S. senators, Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, have indicated they would vote for witnesses.

• For his part, the former National Security Advisor has previously said he would testify in the Senate impeachment trial if called.

• Neither Trump nor his backers have yet offered a solid reason why that cannot happen — especially considering their contention that the president has done nothing wrong.