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Okay, here's the show.

Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. It is 7.16 pm on Monday, January 27th.

I'm Tamer Keith. I cover the White House. I'm Kelsey Snal, I cover Congress.

And I'm Ryan Lucas. I cover the Justice Department.

The president's legal team continues its defense of President Trump in the Senate impeachment trial.

But before we get to that, we have to talk about a major plot twist that just about every senator was asked about today.

Well, just about every senator who was willing to talk to us.

Right, every senator who didn't evade you in the hallways of the Capitol.

So Ryan, tell us what this is. There was this New York Times story that essentially said that

the president's former national security adviser, John Bolton, has some things that he would share that would

undermine part of the president's defense. That's right. John Bolton is writing a book.

There's a manuscript that he shared with the National Security Council.

And the New York Times says that it spoke to people who had reviewed it.

And what Bolton alleges in this book is that President Trump told him in August of 2019 that

Trump wanted to continue to hold around $400 million in aid to Ukraine until the Ukrainian government

helped in investigations of Democrats, including Joe Biden.

This is a big deal because it is a firsthand witness if this is accurate, who could testify

that President Trump was directly linking the aid to the investigations.

Which is that the central allegation in the abuse of power article of these two articles of

impeachment. I mean, he could be a key witness if they decide to call him in the Senate.

...