CNBC: White House Lawyers Reviewing Bolton’s Potential Conflicts Of Interest

on January 24, 2015 in Des Moines, Iowa.
DES MOINES, IA - JANUARY 24: Former Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton speaks to guests at the Iowa Freedom Summit on January 24, 2015 in Des Moines, Iowa. The summit is hosting a group of potential 2016 ... DES MOINES, IA - JANUARY 24: Former Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton speaks to guests at the Iowa Freedom Summit on January 24, 2015 in Des Moines, Iowa. The summit is hosting a group of potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates to discuss core conservative principles ahead of the January 2016 Iowa Caucuses. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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White House attorneys have been meeting with President Trump’s new pick for national security adviser, former Fox News commentator John Bolton, to review his potential conflicts of interest, CNBC reported Wednesday.

A spokesperson for Bolton confirmed to CNBC that the former U.N. ambassador was meeting with lawyers, but declined to comment further, stating that his conversations with White House attorneys were “off-the-record.”

While it was unclear what aspects of Bolton’s background might raise red flags, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter who spoke with CNBC, Bolton’s PAC and super PAC might be the point of contention.

Bolton has reportedly followed the White House’s advice to end all of his PACs political activity, even though both groups were already big spenders in the midterms, according to a CNBC source. Both the PACs will reportedly not fully shut down.

Bolton also internally announced that he would step down as chairman of his foundation — Foundation for American Security and Freedom — in March and plans to pull his name from the website on April 8, sources told CNBC.   

Read the full CNBC report here.

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Notable Replies

  1. They’re trying to figure out if he’s sufficiently corrupt to work in the Trump WH.

  2. Avatar for sanni sanni says:

    Let them (the lawyers) stand in the breach on this appointment. Come on McGahn, we’ve read the reports that you are looking for an exit. Can you do this one thing first? Bolton shouldn’t be in this position in any realty - not even in Trump’s alternate/delusional reality.

    Per some of the problems (I say from memory - not necessarily with accuracy - but with a mood of glee as to where the below could lead…) :

    I believe I heard on MSNBC last night that Bolton’s PAC had a lot of Mercer Money flowing through it to Mercer’s Cambridge Analytica.

    Have we reached a point yet where anyone barely paying attention hasn’t yet heard Mercer’s name enough times, tied to these anti-democracy efforts? His and his daughter’s time of playing in the shadows is - well if it isn’t yet over, I bet by the end of the month’s news cycles it will be over.

  3. You win (even though all of the first posts today are also winners).

  4. “While it was unclear what aspects of Bolton’s background might raise red flags,…”

    I really got a laugh at that line. What aspect of Bolton’s background doesn’t raise a red flag.

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