Tag: John Bolton

John Bolton bursts out laughing after hearing that Trump hoped he’d die of COVID

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Appearing on CNN to address a wide range of topics involving former president Donald Trump’s administration, former Trump national security adviser John Bolton was asked by co-host Brianna Keilar about a report that Donald Trump had indicated he would like to see Bolton contract COVID-19 and die.

In the middle of a discussion on Republicans continuing “kissing Trump’s ring” despite his 2020 election loss, Keilar suddenly changed direction and asked about Trump’s COVID comments which were included in Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta’s book “Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration’s Response to the Pandemic That Changed History.”

According to the book, Trump told members of his cabinet, “Hopefully COVID takes out John.” Continue reading.

Justice Dept. Ends Criminal Inquiry and Lawsuit on John Bolton’s Book

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President Donald J. Trump had pressured the department to use its legal powers to stop his former national security adviser from publishing embarrassing details about him.

The Justice Department closed a criminal investigation into whether a disparaging memoir by President Donald J. Trump’s national security adviser John R. Bolton illegally disclosed classified information and dropped a lawsuit aimed at recouping profits from the book, according to Mr. Bolton and a court document filed on Wednesday.

The agreement ends an effort that began under the Trump administration to silence Mr. Bolton after Mr. Trump waged a campaign pressuring investigators to prosecute him. Dropping the legal action against him is a rebuke by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland of the previous administration’s use of government power to suppress former Trump officials who became critics of Mr. Trump.

“We argued from the outset that neither action was justifiable because they were initiated only as a result of President Trump’s politically motivated order to prevent publication of the ambassador’s book before the 2020 election,” said Mr. Bolton’s lawyer, Charles J. Cooper. Continue reading.

Trump calls Bolton ‘one of the dumbest people in Washington’ after former aide weighs in on martial law report

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President Trump blasted John Bolton as “one of the dumbest people in Washington” after his former national security adviser expressed alarm over a report that Trump considered a suggestion to implement martial law.

“What would Bolton, one of the dumbest people in Washington, know? Wasn’t he the person who so stupidly said, on television, ‘Libyan solution’, when describing what the U.S. was going to do for North Korea?” Trump asked in a tweet early Sunday. “I’ve got plenty of other Bolton ‘stupid stories.’”

Bolton on Saturday reacted to a report that Trump had discussed a proposal by the president’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, to “rerun” the presidential election under military supervision, calling it “appalling.”  Continue reading.

Bolton: ‘Trump is throwing rocks through windows’

John Bolton spoke against the president’s postelection actions, and Gov. Larry Hogan called his moves to influence electors “completely outrageous.”

Former White House national security adviser John Bolton on Sunday blasted President Donald Trump for continuing to contest the Nov. 3 election results, accusing his former boss of mounting political damage.

“I think Trump is throwing rocks through windows,” Bolton said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I think he’s the political equivalent of a street rioter.”

Breaking tradition, Trump has refused to concede to his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, and launched numerous legal challenges to the election results. Continue reading.

John Bolton fears that Trump has an ‘enemies list’ that he is working through

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White House National Security Advisor Ambassador John Bolton talks to reporters Wednesday, May 1, 2019, outside the West Wing entrance of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour) Alex Henderson November 18, 2020

Critics of President Donald Trump predicted that after the presidential race, he would be firing some prominent officials he considered non-loyalists — even if he lost the election. Trump did lose the election, and just as those critics predicted, he has been firing non-loyalists — and former National Security Adviser John Bolton, during a C-SPAN appearance on Wednesday, told the Washington Post’s Robert Costa that he fears Trump has an “enemies list” of more people he plans to fire.

Trump’s post-election firings have included former Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Christopher Krebs, who served as director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Krebs’ unforgivable sin, in Trump’s mind, was arguing that the election was free and fair and that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud or errors as the president has been claiming. Continue reading.

Ex-NSC official alleges ‘unprecedented’ intervention by White House aides in Bolton book review

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A former National Security Council (NSC) official says the White House intervened in “unprecedented” fashion in the prepublication review process of former national security adviser John Bolton’s book in an effort to deem information classified and prevent the memoir’s publication. 

Kenneth Wainstein, a lawyer for Ellen Knight, a career federal employee and a former NSC senior director who led the prepublication review of Bolton’s book, filed a letter in federal court on Wednesday detailing Knight’s concerns with the actions of White House officials in the review of Bolton’s memoir, “The Room Where it Happened,” earlier this year. He writes that she harbors concerns about the potential politicization of the prepublication review process.  

Wainstein conveys Knight’s view that NSC lawyers played “an outsize role in the review process” after she informed them of her receipt of Bolton’s manuscript. Continue reading.

Former staffer: White House politicized Bolton book review

WASHINGTON (AP) — Trump administration officials repeatedly exerted political pressure in an unsuccessful effort to block the release of former national security adviser John Bolton’s tell-all book, a career government records professional said in a court filing Wednesday.

After Bolton submitted his book for prepublication review last last year, it was Ellen Knight’s job at the White House to make sure it did not contain classified information that could possibly threaten U.S. national security.

For the first time, Knight recounted the monthslong prepublication review process that she says was replete with delay tactics, legal maneuverings and a shadow review by a political appointee who had no experience in that area. She contends the actions were aimed at discrediting her work and blocking the publication of Bolton’s book, “The Room Where It Happened.” Continue reading.

Justice Dept. Opens Criminal Inquiry Into John Bolton’s Book

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Investigators are examining whether the former national security adviser illegally disclosed classified information.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into whether President Trump’s former national security adviser John R. Bolton unlawfully disclosed classified information in a memoir this summer, an inquiry that the department began after it failed to stop the book’s publication, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The department has convened a grand jury, which issued a subpoena for communications records from Simon & Schuster, the publisher of Mr. Bolton’s memoir, “The Room Where It Happened.” The Javelin Agency, which represents Mr. Bolton, also received a subpoena, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

The inquiry is a significant escalation of the turmoil over the publication of the book, whose highly unflattering account of Mr. Bolton’s 17 months in the White House prompted Mr. Trump to attack him and call for his prosecution even as the Justice Department sued earlier to try to stop its release. Continue reading.

John Bolton details how Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner wield power behind the scenes

AlterNet logoFormer Trump national security adviser John Bolton revealed in an interview with ABC News broadcast Sunday that the most powerful person in the White House was Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law.

“Next to the president, who held the most power in the White House?” ABC News’ Martha Raddatz asked Bolton.

“It varied from time to time,” Bolton responded. “The sustained answer to that question . . . is Jared Kushner.” Continue reading.