What a day. John Bolton throws impeachment into chaos. President Trump's legal team comes out swinging on their first full day of arguments.

And the senator of this very podcast drives at least one journalist completely up a wall. This is verdict with Ted Cruz.

Welcome back to verdict with Ted Cruz. I'm Michael Knowles. Thank you so much to all of the listeners who have kept this show at the top of the charts again now into our second week.

What a big day. It started as a crazy day before the impeachment trial even began because of a leak from the new memoir of John Bolton. The former national security adviser leaked to the New York Times and it alleges that President Trump tied Ukraine aid to an investigation of the Biden's quid pro quo. He's guilty is charged. Isn't that right?

Well, today was a big and consequential day and you're right it started off crazy. We all had off yesterday so I flew home with some with my family and came back to DC at the crack of dawn walked into the capital. The press was going nuts. They were in a total tizzy the New York Times had broken the story that Bolton says there was a quid pro quo.

And I got to say when I sat down at lunch today before we started the trial, there were a lot of Republican senators who were feeling a little rattled by it. I mean it was designed to shake people up and it had a little bit of that effect.

I'm actually somewhat surprised that this shook up Republican senators because the story itself made all of these headlines a big splash. And yet it seems to me just reading about it and especially given our previous conversations on how the quid pro quo is not really a big deal.

That it's a lot of sizzle and no stake. Well, that's exactly right and and and one of the most important things for people to understand it does not matter if there was a quid pro quo or not.

It does not matter. It doesn't make a difference for the issues before the Senate something we talked about last week in our first couple of podcasts. Look, quid pro quo sounds scary. It's a Latin phrase. I don't know what it means, but it sounds really bad.

All quid pro quo means is you exchange one thing for another and this is not an exaggeration. Every president from George Washington to today has done quid pro quo by the hundreds and foreign policy does it every single day.

So whether or not it's a quid pro quo doesn't matter. The question is did the president commit high crimes and misdemeanors and a quid pro quo is not whether it is or not is not the constitutional stance.

So then why is this such a big headline because that was my reaction to I said hold on. I got to talk to the senator about this last week. I can see through the headline. Why is everybody making such a big deal about the John Bolton leak?

Well, look, part of it was that the defense team on Saturday had some fun pointing out that the evidence was contradictory whether it was a quid pro quo or not.

So they leaned in a little bit saying there wasn't clear evidence. There was a quid pro quo. And so that let the New York Times say goodness. Now we have someone saying there was.

It doesn't matter because look quid pro quo's Obama's a Rand deal is a quid pro quo.

Russia sanctions I just passed last month sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 Russian gas pipeline if a company builds the pipeline they get sanctions that's a quid pro quo you build the pipeline you get sanctioned you're admitting to a quid pro quo right now.

And Venezuela sanctions we're telling Venezuela today that if Nicholas Maduro steps down from Venezuela will live sanctions and we do by the way carrots and sticks all the time where where we'll give you aid will impose sanctions that's how we conduct foreign policy.

So the the Bolton leak the quid pro quo news that doesn't matter to the argument for impeachment itself and yet surely it matters to the impeachment trial because now we're hearing more reports that we could drag this thing out weeks and weeks and finally here from the witnesses which the Democrats have been asking for now for weeks.

So I think the chances of the Senate hearing witnesses and of the trial being dragged on those chances have increased we will vote probably on Friday whether or not with additional witnesses will be brought in all 47 Democrats will vote yes if for Republicans join them if 51 Republican if 51 senators vote yes then we're going to have additional witness.

So do you think that those four Republican senators will go over and now vote for the witnesses you know I'm not certain about that I think there are a couple who have been pretty clear they will I don't know if we get to four.

Okay and you know one of the striking things I don't know that I have seen two Senate meals more different than lunch today and dinner today.

How so what's the difference.

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