Today Donald Trump talked to the media about the latest person to leave his administration in a fast and dramatic fashion. Trump said he “got along very well” with the now-former National Security Adviser John Bolton. But in the same instant, he bashed Bolton’s work on several foreign policy issues. On North Korea, Trump said:
“We were set back very badly when John Bolton talked about the Libyan model. He made a mistake. As soon as he mentioned that, the Libyan model, what a disaster. Take a look at what happened to Gaddafi with the Libyan model. And he’s using that to make a deal with North Korea.”
Trump then sided with the North Korean dictator over Bolton adding:
“I don’t blame Kim Jong-un for what he said after that. And he wanted nothing to do with John Bolton. That’s not a question of being tough. That’s a question of being not smart to say something like that.”
He also threw in this jab:
“John is known as a tough guy. He’s so tough he got us into Iraq. That’s tough.”
As for whether Bolton will have his say, Trump said, “I’m sure he’ll do whatever he can do to spin it his way.”
New York Times White House corespondent Maggie Haberman points out:
POTUS has been surprisingly forthcoming in public about how much he wanted Bolton gone. It's also an important reminder that when he says "fake news" about reports about his White House, as he did about reports he was unhappy with Bolton, they're usually true.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 11, 2019
As for Bolton, he’s reportedly watching and waiting for the appropriate time to respond. Watch more of what Trump said above.