Former national security adviser John Bolton gestures while speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File/The Associated Press)
"There really isn’t any guiding principle that I was able to discern other than what’s good for Donald Trump’s reelection," Bolton said at the time. "I think he was so focused on the reelection that longer-term considerations fell by the wayside."
Bolton also characterized Trump as lacking focus on policy, while being very fixated on himself — to the detriment of national security matters.
"His policymaking is so incoherent, so unfocused, so unstructured, so wrapped around his own personal political fortunes, that mistakes are being made that will have grave consequences for the national security of the United States," Bolton also said in an ABC interview in June 2020.
The first Trump administration sought to block the release of Bolton’s memoir, "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir," and asserted it contained classified material.
The book alleged that Trump "pleaded" Chinese President Xi Jinping to support Trump’s reelection campaign, and called the president "stunningly uninformed."
BIDEN DOJ DROPS LAWSUIT AGAINST JOHN BOLTON OVER 2020 BOOK RELEASE
In this Dec. 13, 2018 photo, national security adviser John Bolton unveils the Trump Administration's Africa Strategy at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.
"Wacko John Bolton’s ‘exceedingly tedious’(New York Times) book is made up of lies & fake stories. Said all good about me, in print, until the day I fired him," Trump said in a separate social media post on June 18, 2020. "A disgruntled boring fool who only wanted to go to war. Never had a clue, was ostracized & happily dumped. What a dope!"
Bolton departed his post at the White House in September 2019. While Bolton said that he left due to his own volition, Trump claimed that he fired Bolton.
Bolton was not arrested or taken into custody following the raid on his home and office Friday.
Trump told reporters Friday that he had no knowledge of the raid and learned about it watching TV.
"He's a, not a smart guy," Trump said Friday. "But he could be a very unpatriotic. I mean, we're going to find out. I know nothing about it. I just saw it this morning. They did a raid."
Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-bolton-feud-back-focus-after-fbi-raid-never-had-clue-what-dope