During his Town Hall style interview with Sean Hannity, President Donald Trump referred to John Bolton’s brief time in the administration as a mistake, and said that his new book, which claims to be an insider’s view of the Trump administration, violates the law.
In the wide ranging event, President Trump was eventually asked about what he hopes to achieve in the second administration. The president noted that his first four years have been fraught with bad actors, and that he looks forward to going into a second term with the team he has built over the past four years.
“You make some mistakes, like an idiot like Bolton,” said President Trump. “All he wanted to do was drop bombs on everybody. You don’t have to drop bombs on everybody, you don’t have to kill people.”
Referring to Bolton’s recent book, President Trump insisted that Bolton “Did release classified” material, and noted a strong opinion from a judge, who “said, ‘this is very dangerous what you’ve done for yourself, and also, any money that you’ve made, good luck.'”
President Trump went on to characterize Bolton as a “sick” person who was motivated by a desire to engage in warfare around the world. The president also blasted Bolton for maintaining that invading Iraq and other nations in the Middle East was in the best interest of the United States.
“He’s sort of a sick guy, there’s something wrong with him. But I noticed that early on. He made two very bad mistakes,” said President Trump. “He said going into Iraq was a good thing.”
“I said, ‘Okay John, but now you know it wasn’t, right,’ the president continued. President Trump claims that Bolton responded that he still believes invading Iraq was good for the United States, nothing that he is “pulling out” of the Middle East.
Bolton also advocated the Libyan model, where former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi surrendered his nuclear weapons in 2003, hoping to gain good will from the United States, only to have his country bombed by the Obama administration during a period of civil unrest, eventually culminating in his death and the region’s transition into chaos.
Following Gadhafi’s death in Libya, it is now possible to buy a slave for as little as $400 in the war torn country.
“Once he said those two things I no longer paid much attention to him, if any,” added President Trump.
“But I’ll tell you he was good for one thing: everyone thought he was crazy, because all he wants to do is bomb people. You know he’ll fight Russia, let’s fight Russia, let’s fight China, let’s fight them all at the same time,” the president explained.
“He’s crazy. When I walked into a room with him, I knew that. When they saw Bolton they always gave me what I wanted, because they said ‘Trump’s going to drop bombs on me, he’s got this maniac with him.'”
President Trump concluded by saying that Bolton “didn’t do a good job,” that he “wasn’t smart, he wasn’t sharp,” and that he was ultimately an unhappy person.
“He’s the only man I’ve ever met, I knew him for a year,” President Trump said. “I don’t think I ever saw him smile. I said to him once, ‘John, do you ever smile?’ It says something about a person.”
Hannity previously defended Bolton during a brief on-air discussion with fellow Fox News Host Tucker Carlson, who called Bolton “the worst” and laughed as Hannity claimed that times were different in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
