Going into Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, Mitch McConnell made it clear there would be zero daylight between Trump’s legal defense and Senate Republicans, famously saying he would work in “total coordination” to quickly acquit the president. But during the most consequential twist in the trial so far—the leak of John Bolton’s book manuscript—McConnell has been flying blind.

Yesterday, a McConnell spokesman confirmed the White House, which had a copy of Bolton’s book since December 30, didn’t share with the Senate Majority Leader that Bolton would allege Trump told Bolton directly that he was withholding $391 million of military aid to Ukraine until Ukraine announced investigations of the Bidens. Bolton’s claim effectively blows up Republicans' principal line of defense: that Democrats have no first-hand witnesses that could confirm Trump pressured Ukraine to help his 2020 reelection. Bolton’s revelations have made McConnell frustrated with Trump, two Republicans briefed on McConnell’s private conversations told me. “The White House knew and kept it mum,” a McConnell ally said. McConnell is said to be unhappy, and recalibrating his impeachment tactics. "He’s resigned to the fact there will be witnesses,” another prominent Republican said.

Inside Trumpworld, it is widely assumed Bolton is behind the leak, three Republican sources told me. Their suspicion is driven by the fact that Bolton left the administration in September on bad terms and has been waging a shadow war against Trump ever since. In November, NBC News reported Bolton trashed Trump during a private speech, saying Trump’s foreign policy was driven by Trump’s business interests. A source close to Bolton told me that Bolton has privately told GOP donors that Trump is “mentally unstable.” Bolton also has said he worries Trump will pull the United States out of NATO if he gets a second term. “Bolton’s been out there trying to bring down Trump. He’s the ultimate passive-aggressive,” the person close to Bolton said. (Bolton did not respond to a request for comment.) In early January, Bolton released a statement on his website declaring he was willing to testify at Trump’s trial.

Trump allies also point out that Bolton has assembled a kitchen cabinet that could have orchestrated the leak to the New York Times. Some believe his book agents at the D.C. literary agency Javelin could be behind the disclosures, though Javelin has denied it. Others mention longtime Bolton aide Matthew Freedman, a D.C. consultant and ex-lobbyist who once worked for Paul Manafort as a possible suspect (Freedman once advised Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos). Freedman first started working with Bolton in the 1980s and was reportedly fired from the Trump transition for allegedly using his role to boost his consulting business, but remained close to Bolton and advised Bolton on staffing the NSC in 2018. “Freedman is like a character straight out of House of Cards, he’s trained in the dark arts,” the person close to Bolton told me. (Freedman could not be reached for comment, but a source close to him said it was “ludicrous” to allege he leaked). One former West Wing official said Bolton may have worried Republicans weren’t going to call him as a witness and it would look terrible if his book contained allegations that should have been aired during the trial. “I mean, what an asshole he would look like if impeachment ended and it looked like he withheld evidence,” the official said. In a joint statement yesterday, Bolton, his agent, and publisher Simon & Schuster said they had nothing to do with the leak. Bolton’s lawyer Charles Cooper also told the Washington Post: “I can tell you unequivocally that we had nothing to do with the leak of any information concerning John’s manuscript.”