Trump: I’d ‘Love’ For Pompeo, Mulvaney, Perry To Testify But It’d Be A ‘National Security Problem’

President Donald Trump speaks to the press outside the grand ballroom as he arrives for a New Year's celebration at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on December 31, 2019. (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

President Donald Trump claimed on Wednesday that he would “love” for the top officials involved his Ukraine scheme to testify in the Senate impeachment trial, but doing so would pose a “national security problem.”

During a press conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump told reporters that he’d “rather” have former National Security Adviser John Bolton testify, but “the problem with John is that it’s a national security problem.”

“You can’t have somebody whose at national security,” Trump said. “If you think about it, John, he knows some of my thoughts. He knows what I think about leaders.”

He also pointed out how Bolton’s departure from the White House was less than peaceable.

“You don’t like people testifying when they didn’t leave on good terms,” Trump said.

The President cited the same issue in regards to acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney’s potential testimony, even though he’d “love to have Mick go.”

He followed up with the same excuse about Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: “I’d love to have Mike Pompeo testify but again that’s a national security problem.”

And then Trump made a similar comment about Perry, saying he’d “love” for his energy secretary to testify.

“But we’re dealing with national security,” he said.

The Senate’s GOP majority voted to shoot down all of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) efforts to amend Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) trial resolution and allow subpoenas for witnesses and documents to be issued at the beginning of the trial.

Watch Trump below:

Latest News
302
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for jmacaz jmacaz says:

    What a crock of shit… tRump wants to be acquitted before the SOTU so he can stand up there and gloat.

  2. “You don’t like people testifying when they didn’t leave on good terms,” Trump said.

    There’s a good legal justification. It’s probably why spouses involved in a nasty divorce are not permitted to testify at a child custody hearing.

    Oh, wait…

  3. Dementia 101.

  4. image

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

296 more replies

Participants

Avatar for xpurg8d Avatar for srfromgr Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for psudawnc Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for lastroth Avatar for leftcoaster Avatar for darrtown Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for rickjones Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for coimmigrant Avatar for j_publicus Avatar for kelaine Avatar for justruss Avatar for dougsanders Avatar for zillacop Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for combatveteran777 Avatar for rucleare Avatar for emiliano4 Avatar for Hatmama

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: