President Donald Trump didn’t express much love for former National Security Adviser John Bolton on Wednesday.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he got along with Bolton “very well” but that the hawkish ex-adviser “set us back” on efforts to get North Korea to denuclearize.
“He made some very big mistakes when he talked about the Libyan model for Kim Jong-un,” Trump said. “That was not a good statement to make.”
The President also claimed that Bolton “wasn’t getting along with people in the administration that I consider very important.”
“I hope we’ve left in good stead, but maybe we have and maybe we haven’t,” Trump said.
Nuclear talks with North Korea stalled in April 2018 when Bolton raised the possibility of deploying the Libya model in the negotiations.
Watch Trump below:
Trump says Bolton "wasn't getting along with people in the administration" pic.twitter.com/6x2LfMIy03
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) September 11, 2019
The tagline for Alien v. Predator comes to mind: “Whoever Wins, We Lose.”
Yes, the dearth of diplomacy chops in this admin is Bolton’s fault. For sure.
Just another incoherent ramble through Trump’s deranged mind. Nothing new hear
I’m at work and can’t listen to the audio, but did Trump really use the word “stead”?
I’m just having a really hard time believing that he has ever used that word.
He chose Bolton because he was a Fox commentator. Trump has no foreign policy. It is all Ad Hoc Unlike Trump, Bolton had a real policy agenda. Not a particularly good policy agenda but he did manage to scuttle the Taliban’s sleep over at Camp David. It all comes down to those who do not show loyalty/deference to Trump at all costs are twitter fired.