June 18, 2020 09:53 AM UTC

John Bolton Beclowns BFF Cory Gardner, Again

• 6 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

CNN’s Manu Raju reports on the fallout from disclosure of highly damning new allegations about President Donald Trump’s foreign policy in a book finally coming out next week written by former National Security Adviser John Bolton.

Guess who doesn’t want to talk about it? You already know the answer:

Senate Republicans are unmoved by the stunning allegations in former national security adviser John Bolton’s forthcoming book, saying Bolton’s accusation that President Donald Trump sought reelection help from Chinese President Xi Jinping did not change their minds against calling him as a witness in the impeachment trial…

“The House didn’t think it was important,” said Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican up for reelection in 2020, repeating a criticism Senate Republicans leveled frequently during the Senate trial.

Asked about his reaction to Bolton’s allegations that Trump told Xi it was the right call to build concentration camps for Uyghur Muslims, Gardner interrupted the question to say, “I haven’t read the book.”

As has become the rule trying to pin Sen. Cory Gardner down on any question adverse to President Donald Trump, both of these answers are so inadequate it’s hard to know where to begin. Whether or not the House thought it was “important” to include these allegations in the impeachment case against the President has no bearing on the facts of the allegations. This non-denial “process argument” that if the House didn’t include it in impeachment it doesn’t matter betrays outright contempt for the truth.

Not to mention that Gardner was not any more interested in hearing from Bolton then either:

As for the morality of encouraging the government of China to build concentration camps to house their own citizens? Gardner is the chairman of the East Asia subcommittee of Senate Foreign Relations. Why would Cory Gardner, or for that matter anyone with a conscience, need to read a book to know building concentration camps is wrong?

Because Bolton has singled out Sen. Gardner for support after his departure from the White House, claiming Gardner has a “remarkable understanding and knowledge of the threats we face” in the foreign policy arena in obvious contrast to Trump, Gardner’s refusal to address Bolton’s increasingly dire allegations about the Trump administration’s corrupt foreign policy stands out all the more. It’s the exact opposite of the “constancy and resolve” Bolton once lauded Gardner for.

This latest cop-out is another heavy blow to Gardner’s basically non-existent credibility, sure to add to Gardner’s tanking approval ratings and underscoring his double-digit deficit in polling. Trump makes enemies of his former allies regularly–and when that happens, underlings like Cory Gardner must make a choice.

Gardner chose Trump once again.