President Trump slammed his former national security adviser John Bolton as a disgruntled ex-employee after portions of his book alleging corruption in the administration leaked to news outlets.
A particular claim Trump took offense to was Bolton’s assertion that the president had asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping to buy large amounts of agricultural products to improve his reelection prospects in agriculture-reliant states.
“[It was] a terrible, terrible thing that he did, but he broke the law. Very simple,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday. “This is … highly classified information. And he did not have approval that has come out now, very loud and very strong.”
Bolton’s forthcoming memoir, The Room Where It Happened, has been attacked by both sides of the political aisle, with Democrats pointing to his refusal to testify about alleged misconduct during the House impeachment hearings and Republicans labeling the claims as resentment toward Trump.
“He was a washed-up guy … he couldn’t get Senate confirmed, so I gave him a non-Senate confirmed position, where I could just put him there, see how he worked,” Trump said.
Trump also boosted himself as having one of the toughest administrations against malpractices in China and Russia.
Trump also attacked Bolton earlier on Thursday in the Wall Street Journal while defending his own foreign policy decisions, especially on trade.
“He is a liar,” Trump said, adding that “everybody in the White House hated John Bolton.”
