GOP warns of 'drawn out' executive privilege battle over Bolton testimony

Republicans are using the threat of a protracted executive privilege battle as a cudgel to dissuade their colleagues from calling former national security adviser John Bolton to testify at President Trump’s impeachment trial.

As the Senate barrels toward a make-or-break moment on witnesses next week, Trump allies and members of leadership are warning that calling Bolton, or any current or former administration officials, to testify could draw out the impeachment fight for weeks, if not months.

GOP senators expect Trump to make good on his suggestion that he could invoke executive privilege to avoid complying with subpoenas stemming from the trial. Legal experts are divided over exactly how the dispute would unfold, and under what time frame, but some believe it could lead to a lengthy court battle involving largely untested legal questions.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said the fight would force lawmakers to pause the impeachment trial and keep Congress in a “state of limbo” as the court battle plays out.

“Do we want to elongate this thing even further? I don’t believe we should,” Johnson told The Hill.

Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.), the No. 4 Republican senator, added that Trump “should” invoke the legal protection after the House skipped resolving their own legal fights with the administration before voting on the impeachment articles.

“It will have to go to the courts and absolutely it will be drawn out,” he said.

Constitutional scholars say guidance from previous Supreme Court decisions may be of limited use to clear the thicket surrounding a possible assertion of executive privilege, the legal doctrine that shields certain presidential and executive communications from disclosure.