Sen. Cruz says if Democrats call John Bolton, Republicans will call Hunter Biden

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) – It’s day two of President Trump’s defense in the impeachment trial, and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas doesn’t think there will be a motion to dismiss. The Republican from Texas predicts the president’s defense team will finish their arguments today or tomorrow, and that will be followed by 16 hours of questions from senators. These will be written questions.

That will be followed by a vote on whether to call additional witnesses, which Cruz expects to be close. Four Republicans are said to be thinking about voting “yes” with the 47 Democrats. They are senators Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Lamar Alexander.

“I don’t think there’s any need for additional witnesses,” Cruz told Judge Jeanine Pirro on the Fox News Channel. “I think we have more than enough to reject these articles on the merits because they haven’t proven their case.”

Cruz says if senators vote to call more witnesses, Joe Biden’s son could be called.

“We’ve got to be fair. We’ve got to follow the principle of reciprocity, which means if they (Democrats) get John Bolton, we (Republicans) get Hunter Biden,” said Cruz.

The New York Times reports that President Trump told Bolton that he wanted to continue freezing military aid to Ukraine until government officials there helped investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. The New York Times says this is from a manuscript of Bolton’s upcoming book.

President Trump tweeted,”I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens.” He added that if Bolton said this,”it was only to sell a book.”

Hunter Biden is under scrutiny for past dealings in Ukraine.  Republicans are questioning how he  ended up on the board of a Ukrainian energy company with little or no prior experience in the business while his father was vice president.

Cruz told Judge Jeanine he doesn’t think there will be a motion to dismiss the impeachment case.

“I think we will go to judgment and we will acquit the President, which means we will stand up and vote guilty or not guilty on each of the articles,” Cruz said.