/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5ef095bee782210007a90a23/0x0.jpg?w=1920&resize=1920,0&ssl=1 "‘One-Term President’: Five Things We Learned From John Bolton’s Explosive ABC Interview")
TOPLINE
The full extent of John Bolton’s explosive criticism of President Trump was laid bare in an anticipated interview with ABC News that aired on Sunday, in which the former national security advisor said he won’t be voting for his former boss, adding he hopes Trump will be remembered as a “one-term president.”
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton
Getty Images
KEY FACTS
Bolton’s interview aired ahead of the release of his book, The Room Where It Happened, chronicling Bolton’s damning account of the Trump administration, including the President’s alleged bid for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s help to get reelected.
As a sneak peak of the interview beforehand revealed, Bolton also blasted Trump as “stunningly uninformed”, not fit for office, and painted Trump as easily manipulated by foreign leaders.
Bolton told ABC’s Martha Raddatz: “I hope (history) will remember him as a one-term president…We can get over one term,” adding that he will not vote for him and instead “figure out a conservative Republican to write in” on the ballot.
He also weighed in on Trump’s relationship with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, saying he thinks the 36-year-old “gets a huge laugh” out of Trump’s perception of their relationship.
Bolton, who was fired by Trump last September, claims he resigned after Trump proposed meeting with the Taliban during Afghan peace negotiations.
Trump has previously accused Bolton of making up “lies and fake stories” for the book, and called him a “wacko.”
Key background
The Room Where It Happened pitches the President against Bolton, a veteran Republican Beltway warrior. Bolton is not the first Trump staff to break ranks after being ousted from office but his account raises some of the most damaging claims against President Trump including allegations he lobbied China for a trade deal to aid his reelection campaign, and backed Beijing’s building of concentration camps for Uyghur Muslims. While Bolton, who clashed with Trump over aggressive plans for military conflict with Iran and Venezuela, may be more credible than previous victims of Trump’s hire-and-fire policies with staffers like Sean Spicer or Omarosa Manigault but his refusal to testify in an impeachment hearing on the issue of foreign influence over the President calls into question the motivations behind the book.
Further reading
Bolton Drops Even More Trump Bombshells In TV Interview Clips (Forbes)
The Room Where It Happened review: John Bolton fires broadside that could sink Trump (The Guardian)
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