Natalia Chi
Washington — Former National Security Advisor John Bolton on Thursday called former President Donald Trump’s 2024 bid a “poison” to the Republican Party, claiming the former president’s re-election campaign is “going downhill” .
And in an extensive interview, Bolton told CBS News’ chief elections and elections correspondent Robert Costa that he was considering running for president in 2024.end“Part of the U.S. Constitution.
Bolton, who has served in various national security roles in Republican administrations for decades, also said Trump “acted in a very insane fashion” as commander-in-chief, failing to grasp. “The gravity and importance of the national security decisions he had to make. ”
Bolton argued that Trump’s 2024 campaign, which launched last November, will continue to struggle to gain traction.
When asked about Trump’s recent presidential trajectory, Bolton said, “I think it’s going downhill and I think it’s going to continue to go downhill.” I think you know that after the election on the 8th, it is unlikely that he will be elected to the House of Representatives.I do not think he will be the Republican candidate.
When asked if he was seriously considering holding the 2024 event, Bolton told Costa that the characterization was “absolutely correct”.
Bolton’s sharp criticism of Trump has continued since he left the Trump White House.Bolton later wrote a long, detailed book about the time he worked for Trump and the Justice Department, provoking Trump’s ire. sued Bolton It claimed that Bolton disclosed classified information and tried to stop its publication.Department of Justice after all Dropped Both the lawsuit and its criminal investigation. Bolton’s book The Room Where it Happened was published in June 2020 by his Simon & Schuster division of Paramount Global.
As National Security Advisor, Bolton had a front row seat to the handling of the former president’s classified information and other sensitive materials. When asked if Trump was a threat to national security, he replied, “I think he is.”
Mr Bolton told Costa: “I think the damage he did during his tenure was serious but repairable.” “I strongly opposed him going for a second term because I was afraid that doing so would be irreversible.”
Bolton also lashed out at former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, calling him “unfit” to serve as president. “I want his ambition to trump his principles,” Bolton said of Pompeo, who is considering his own presidential run.
“I think Pompeo is smart enough to be president, but I am very worried that his ambitions will again overtake his principles,” he said. “And I think the way he approached not only me, but clearly other former colleagues in the book, probably shows a lack of character that makes him unfit to be president.”
CBS News reached out to Pompeo for comment. In his latest book, Pompeo writes: Discussed On this week’s “CBS Morning,” he believes Bolton should be indicted for alleged treason.
Costa pointed out that Pompeo is a self-proclaimed conservative and Trump ally. He also asked Bolton what Pompeo said about Trump in the shadow of the former president.
“Well, at some point, I don’t know if I can say this on TV, but at a conference, in my first meeting with Kim Jong Un, he handed me a note after Trump’s comments.**. ‘ And we talked about our dissatisfaction with Trump’s decisions related to Iran and many other issues. And I detail them in my book. I think it’s fair to say it was the same, and I don’t think we ever made a deal to step down together, but we did talk about it.”
Fernando Suarez contributed to this report.
Kathryn Watson
