Drafts from a book by former National Security Advisor John Bolton was leaked into New York Times, alleging President Donald Trump from withholding aid to Ukraine in order to force an investigation against former Vice President Joe Biden. Then again, Democrats took this as an opportunity to argue on bringing Bolton to testify in court.

According to reports from the NYT, Trump instructed Bolton in August of 2019 to freeze $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine. In an unpublished manuscript, Bolton alleged that this was a strategy to force Ukraine to start an investigation against Joe Biden and other Democrats. NYT described Bolton’s statement as “explosive”, especially since his allegations stood at the heart of the impeachment trial.

NYT also claimed that drafts of the manuscript had also been distributed to close associates, and a copy was submitted to the White House as a part of a standard review process.

This has been confirmed by Bolton’s lawyer, Chuck Cooper. Cooper claimed that the manuscript has been submitted to the National Council to review for classified information. However, parts of the manuscript have been leaked to the NYT.

In a statement, Cooper said that on December 30, 2019, Cooper himself had submitted the draft to the National Security Council’s Records Management Division for standard prepublication. Bolton’s camp assured that there is no classified material in the manuscript.

Moreover, as part of the review procedure, the manuscript should not be disclosed to politicians or other interested parties who could possibly benefit from the book.

Cooper said in an official statement “A copy of my December 30 letter is attached. It is clear, regrettably, from The New York Times article published today that the prepublication review process has been corrupted and that information has been disclosed by persons other than those properly involved in reviewing the manuscript.”

However, Democrats used the leaked information from the manuscript to further argue that the reports from NYT should serve as evidence for Bolton to testify in the impeachment trial. The opposition continued to claim that there is no reason why Bolton’s book should not be published, or why Bolton could not testify in court. “There is no defensible reason to wait until his book is published when the information he has to offer is critical to the most important decision senators must now make—whether to convict the president of impeachable offenses,” Democrats continued to argue.

The opposition’s arguments continue to fall on deaf ears, as President Trump exercises his right to be protected under executive privilege, which allows him to keep discussions with his advisors in private.

As Rep. Mark Meadows (R-TX), who is currently responsible for the House Oversight and Foreign Affairs Committees, responded: “I keep reading in the media about how there must have been some sort of political quid pro quo scheme…And yet, apparently the one group who didn’t know about it were the people supposedly being extorted—the Ukrainians. The facts haven’t changed,” Meadows tweeted.