Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton pushed back against comedian Stephen Colbert in an interview about his memoir The Room Where It Happened, which details his 17 months in the Trump administration.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert comedian on Wednesday blasted Bolton, who has worked in four Republican administrations, for voting for Trump in the 2016 election and not initially believing the idea espoused by critics that the president would compromise national security interests for political gain.
“He’s going to be subject to the pressure of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. He’s a person willing to sell out the interests of the American people for his own reelection. What could be worse in Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden’s philosophy than betraying your country to a hostile foreign leader, sir?” Colbert asked.
“Trust me, I understand that point,” Bolton began before Colbert interrupted to say, “But will you answer that question?”
“I’m trying to,” Bolton said.
“OK, I’m sorry. My apologies, go ahead,” Colbert sarcastically quipped.
Bolton has said repeatedly he does not plan to vote for Trump in 2020, but will write-in a conservative Republican before voting for former Vice President Joe Biden.
“I couldn’t believe it was that bad. And I know other people say they saw it from the beginning,” Bolton began.
“But you’re a national negotiator. How could you be naive?” Colbert interrupted. “You’ve dealt with the worst people in the world.”
“You’ve really insulted me now by calling me naive,” Bolton responded. “Look, I thought it was possible to work with somebody. I thought surely they would want to learn about the complexities of arms control negotiations and that sort of thing. And as I detail in the book, that turned out not to be true.”
According to Bolton’s memoir, Chinese President Xi Jinping complained to Trump about critics of China in the United States, and Trump reportedly assumed Xi was referring to Democrats. Trump agreed with the Chinese leader and proceeded to request that the foreign country purchase agricultural products to assist his reelection efforts.
“These and innumerable other similar conversations with Trump formed a pattern of fundamentally unacceptable behavior that eroded the very legitimacy of the presidency,” Bolton wrote.
The former national security adviser also argued that the China trade deal, the U.S. approach to Chinese telecoms, the Chinese Communist Party’s treatment of Uighurs, and China’s crackdown in Hong Kong were all viewed by Trump through the lens of deal-making with an eye on winning again in 2020.
Bolton’s book was officially published on Tuesday.
