US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday night condemned former national security adviser John Bolton as “a traitor who damaged America” after the publication of excerpts of his new book which makes explosive accusations about President Donald Trump.
“It is both sad and dangerous that John Bolton’s final public role is that of a traitor who damaged America by violating his sacred trust with its people,” said Pompeo in a statement.
“I’ve not read the book, but from the excerpts I’ve seen published, John Bolton is spreading a number of lies, fully-spun half-truths, and outright falsehoods,” added the Secretary of State.
Bolton, the former White House national security adviser, rocked domestic and international politics by writing a book that portrays the president as ignorant, venal, and indifferent to any U.S. interests beyond the 2020 reelection campaign. In that effort, the book also purports to raise the curtain on Pompeo’s personal disagreements with President Trump, with potentially damaging ramifications for the secretary’s relationship with the White House.
Bolton, who served for 17 months as Trump’s National Security Advisor before he was fired last September, penned a 592-page book after his firing, slated to be released on June 23.
In the book, Bolton takes frequent jabs at the president, calling him “erratic” and “foolish” and claimed he behaved “irrationally” and “bizarrely”. “You can’t leave him alone for a minute.”
The Justice Department has sued to bar the book’s publication, claiming it contains classified information, and that Bolton violated a non-disclosure agreement by writing the book.
In one excerpt of the book released on Wednesday, Bolton claims that Trump “pleaded” with China’s Xi Jinping during a 2019 summit to help his reelection prospects.
In sections of the book released Wednesday and published by CNN, Bolton further claimed that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu felt serious concerns regarding Trump’s selection of his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner to head up a team charged with drafting the administration’s Middle East peace plan. The claims were rejected by Netanyahu on Thursday.
Pompeo’s statement came after Trump blasted Bolton as a “sick puppy” in a series of tweets.
“Bolton’s book, which is getting terrible reviews, is a compilation of lies and made up stories, all intended to make me look bad. Many of the ridiculous statements he attributes to me were never made, pure fiction. Just trying to get even for firing him like the sick puppy he is!” said one tweet.
“When Wacko John Bolton went on Deface the Nation and so stupidly said that he looked at the ‘Libyan Model’ for North Korea, all hell broke out. Kim Jong Un, who we were getting along with very well, went ‘ballistic’, just like his missiles - and rightfully so,” said Trump in another tweet.
“He didn’t want Bolton anywhere near him. Bolton’s dumbest of all statements set us back very badly with North Korea, even now. I asked him, ‘what the hell were you thinking?’ He had no answer and just apologized. That was early on, I should have fired him right then & there!” he wrote in yet another tweet.