Congressman Mark Meadows (R-NC) said he believes that the release of information from former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s draft book manuscript was part of a “coordinated leak in order to change the narrative” surrounding impeachment.
Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that “multiple sources” with access to the Bolton manuscript claimed that President Trump told his former National Security Adviser that he wished to withhold security aid from Ukraine until they provided information on his political rivals.
While speaking to reporters yesterday, Meadows said,”My hypothesis is that this is part of a coordinated leak in order to change the narrative. To suggest that any particular Democrat did it, no I can’t do it.”
He then went on to slam Democrats for their history of leaking.
“I can say that there is a history of my Democrat colleagues leaking to some of you that are around here covering the press right now–I would go out and find that you had documents that I didn’t even have access to before I was literally finding out about the documents from all of you,” the Congressman continued.
Meadows also claimed that the leak was designed to “try to manipulate the thinking” of Republican Senators to “encourage them to open it up and provide more witnesses.”
Yesterday, Breitbart reported that the twin brother of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (who was one of the Democrats’ top impeachment witnesses) is tasked with reviewing all publications by NSC officials.
Army Lt. Colonel Yevgeny Vindman is a senior ethics lawyer with the NSC and sources told Breitbart that he could have seen Bolton’s draft manuscript after it was submitted for review.
Bolton and his publishers issued a statement yesterday and denied coordinating with the New York Times.
“Ambassador John Bolton, Simon & Schuster, and Javelin Literary categerically state that there was absolutely no coordination with the New York Times or anyone else regarding the appearance of information about his book, The Room Where it Happened…Any assertion to the contrary is unfounded speculation.”
NEW: John Bolton and publishers issue statement denying "coordination with the New York Times or anyone else" following bombshell report about draft manuscript. https://t.co/WEqpLnWLJK pic.twitter.com/Hk5dNVJpvl
— ABC News (@ABC) January 27, 2020
