For US National Security Advisor John Bolton excoriated his former boss, President Donald Trump, in an interview aired on ABC News Sunday.
Bolton, who was fired last September after serving 17 months as NSA, penned a 592-page book, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, set for release Tuesday, despite efforts by the Justice Department to block its publication, claiming it exposed confidential information and violated a nondisclosure agreement Bolton had signed.
In the book, Bolton takes frequent shots at Trump, describing him as “erratic” and “foolish” and claiming he behaved “irrationally” and “bizarrely”.
On Sunday, Bolton went even further, telling ABC News that he would not vote to reelect Trump, and expressing hopes the president is defeated in November.
"I hope (history) will remember him as a one-term president who didn't plunge the country irretrievably into a downward spiral we can't recall from,” said Bolton
“We can get over one term -- I have absolute confidence, even if it's not the miracle of a conservative Republican being elected in November. Two terms, I'm more troubled about."
Bolton went on to say Trump is not a “conservative Republican”, and that he would look for a write-in candidate to back.
"I don't think he's a conservative Republican. I'm not going to vote for him in November -- certainly not going to vote for Joe Biden either. I'm going to figure out a conservative Republican to vote in.”
Last week, ABC News previewed the Bolton interview, releasing a clip in which Bolton said Trump is ‘unfit’ to serve as president.
That comment provoked responses from both Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who condemned Bolton.
"Everybody in the White House hated John Bolton,” Trump tweeted, calling his former NSA a “wacko” and a “liar”.
Citing the ruling by a federal court judge on Saturday, Trump noted that Judge Royce Lamberth, who ruled in favor of Bolton and permitted the book to be released on schedule, nonetheless excoriated Bolton’s decision to publish the confidential material. Lamberth ultimately ruled that given the leaks from the book, there is no further basis for attempting to bar its publication.
"While Bolton's unilateral conduct raises grave national security concerns, the government has not established that an injunction is an appropriate remedy," Lamberth wrote. “The damage is done.”
“Defendant Bolton has gambled with the national security of the United States. He has exposed his country to harm and himself to civil (and potentially criminal) liability.”
“Bolton broke the law and has been called out and rebuked for so doing, with a really big price to pay. He likes dropping bombs on people, and killing them. Now he will have bombs dropped on him,” Trump tweeted.