President Donald Trump's national security advisor John Bolton submitted his manuscript to the White House for a pre-publication review by national security officials to ensure he wasn't publishing anything that was classified. It was then revealed that the White House made several copies of the manuscript and passed it around, which is how it got leaked to the press this week during the impeachment hearings.
While Trump's lawyers said that they didn't have access to the Bolton manuscript prior to the trial, they wouldn't say whether they had been briefed on the manuscript.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins reported the information from her sources that they refused to answer.
"Well, that is interesting information, because when the manuscript was first written about in the New York Times the Republicans in the Senate were outraged and calling the White House and the attorneys and saying, 'Did you know this before the trial started,' and they said they did not," said CNN's Gloria Borger. "The question is, as they continue to fight against Bolton's testimony, what everyone wants to know is what else is in that book, and does the White House have more information about what is in that book, and that is why they are continuing to press against Bolton testifying or is it just because they don't think that he needs to testify?"
It was reported that Bolton gave the book to the White House weeks ago, so it was clear that the White House had the information well in advance of the impeachment trial and could have flagged it for Republicans. Instead, they worked to conceal it, until it was leaked to the Times.
"If they have some information about what is in that book, I think that Democrats are going to want to say, 'Well, we need to have it, too," Borger said.
See the full report below:
