The Morning Dispatch: A Bolton Bombshell

What it means for the fight over whether to have witnesses in the Senate.

By The Dispatch Staff

Jan 27, 2020

Happy Monday. This is gearing up to be another monumental week in the nation’s capital, for reasons we’ll get into soon.

But first, some unbearably tragic news.

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna died in a helicopter crash yesterday in Calabasas, California.
As of Sunday morning, the mysterious coronavirus has claimed at least 80 lives in China, with 2,744 confirmed cases across the country. There are now five confirmed cases in the United States.

Keep reading with a free account

Create a free Dispatch account to keep reading Get Started ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? SIGN IN

Conversations (24)

Comments (24)

Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.

Sort by:

Bill Nelson 3 years ago

On hearing Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower", Bob Dylan said it was clear that he had written it for Hendrix.

Collapse

Jenny 3 years ago

Mike Pompeo's assertion that NPR's Marie Louise Kelly pointed to Bangladesh instead of Ukraine is ridiculous. I might have given his account of the interaction some consideration if he said she pointed to someplace like Belarus or Romania instead of Ukraine, but there is no way she picked a subtropical country along the Indian Ocean as the location of Ukraine. What rubish! Such a dumb lie on his part tells me Kelly's account of the situation is probably spot on.

Collapse

Jenny 3 years ago

Mary Louise Kelly.

I'm begining to wonder if the lack of an edit button is really a sneaky trick to train us to read our comments harder before posting. Is encouraging greater reflection in how we articulate our thoughts one of The Dispatch's secret goals?

Collapse

Pat Riot 3 years ago

Maybe, but with editing you are encouraged to read your comment over after you post it.

Collapse

Pat Riot 3 years ago

Interesting tacit admission by 55% of Republicans who do *not* want to hear what really happened with the Ukraine scandal: they know Trump is guilty and hope that other Americans don't find out.

I've always likened Trump's ownership of the Republican voter base to a TV show like Breaking Bad or The Sopranos: by making a criminal the hero they make you root for the criminal and root against the police.

Collapse

Jenny 3 years ago

Interesting way of thinking of the Trump narrative. I'll be keeping this in mind when I listen to him speak.

Collapse

CynthiaW 3 years ago

Seven other people died in that helicopter crash. God sees them and their families.

Collapse

Paul Montagu 3 years ago

Paula White's job as Trump's spiritual advisor should have a miscarriage.

Collapse

Theirn Scott 3 years ago

LOL. I religious heretic giving advice to a political heretic. There is a certain symmetry.

Collapse

Paul Montagu 3 years ago

Paula White's job as Trump's spiritual advisor should have a miscarriage.

Collapse

CynthiaW 3 years ago

I'm trying to think of a context in which that line wouldn't be utterly insane. A comedy skit that went a little off course?

Collapse

Paul Montagu 3 years ago

In the context of her position in Trump’s orbit and her loony tune theology, I thought I nailed it.
The real question is why more evangelical leaders aren’t calling for her job to miscarry.

Collapse

CynthiaW 3 years ago

I don't know. It's not my milieu. I was just sufficiently interested, because it was such a crazy remark, to see what the context was.

Collapse

CynthiaW 3 years ago

Research shows that she says that by "satanic pregnancies," she meant, "evil plans." I can see a situation in which a person who is used to developing certain metaphors doesn't realize that people other than herself might not get the point.

Collapse

Jenny 3 years ago

I would think that the crowd she was preaching in front of might not have liked that comment. Very strange.

Collapse

Pat Riot 3 years ago

Are you sure her audience got all of that?

Collapse

CynthiaW 3 years ago

No, I doubt it. This is just what she said, afterward, that she was intending to convey.

Collapse

Tele 3 years ago

I’m much less impeachment agnostic after this article than before. I can’t see our President “going forth and sinning no more.” If re-elected the wack a mole will continue (some of it fainting couch vapors from the other side, some of it unforced errors from a President who couldn’t pass the marshmallow test).
Is there a modern equivalent of the Rhodes/Goldwater/Scott trio, and would Trump even listen?

Collapse

Butch Earl 3 years ago

"I’m much less impeachment agnostic after this article than before."
Me too. I was raised in a very Nixon friendly house but, it did not take a genius to realize what was on the Watergate tapes when the White House went to the mattresses after the existence of those tapes was revealed. I'm not quite ready to say John Bolton could be the Alexander Butterfield here but, I'm getting closer. Note to GOP senators: if Bolton does not appear under oath, it won't take a genius to figure out who's version of events is the truth and your vote whether or not to hear his testimony will be on the record.

Collapse

Kevin Durant? 3 years ago

President Trump told Bolton “he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats including the Bidens.”
—————————————
Republicans basically need Bolton to testify now, just so they can ask him
“Did Trump actually believe corruption was taking place”
And then Bolton can say
“Yes”
And then we can move on with our lives

Oh and also they should call Chris Heinz, not Hunter Biden. Chris Heinz immediately expressed concern over the deal and then exited his position at Rosemont Seneca which is one of Hunter’s influence peddling enterprises

I’m sure Chris Heinz will.....relish the opportunity to clear his name

Collapse

Jenny 3 years ago

Oh, how I wish we could move on. I don't see it happening. There is always a new cliff-hanger right when the last one is resolved (or forgotten). Us political junkies are going to be in for some serious withdrawal if someone boring ever gets elected again.

Collapse

Kevin Durant? 3 years ago

Considering it’s probably going to be Bernie vs Trump, I think we are locked in for at least another four years of excitement!!

Collapse

Ken Bashford 3 years ago

The NYT is reporting *descriptions* of a draft manuscript from unnamed sources, but no direct quotes from the manuscript. And this is a ‘bombshell’. Interesting.

Collapse

Kevin Durant? 3 years ago

bombshell Version 9.02.011.34

Collapse