Former Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland doubted that John Bolton’s time as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser would end well, especially after election day in 2016 when he called Trump “an idiot.”
McFarland told Newsmax TV on Thursday that in 2016 both she and Bolton were expert contributors at Fox News Channel and in the green room waiting to go on the air.
“I said, ‘Well, John, did you vote? Did you vote for Trump?’” McFarland said on "The Chris Salcedo Show." “And he said, ‘Yeah, I think he’s an idiot, but I voted for him because anybody is better than Hillary Clinton.’
“So then, when he was appointed national security adviser a year and a half later, I was really surprised. I thought, ‘This is not going to end well,’ in large part because President Trump has a very different world view than John Bolton. Trump wants to use economic warfare and trade to cut deals, and John Bolton is a neo-conservative. He’s a guy who is in favor of using pre-emptive military force.”
McFarland’s comments come as the White House has sued to prevent the release of Bolton’s latest book, “The Room Where It Happened,” about his more than a year as Trump’s national security adviser.
McFarland bristled at some of Bolton’s criticisms of Trump, particularly his claim that he feels very strong that the president is unfit for office and that he endangered the nation’s security.
“If he felt that strongly about it, while he was national security adviser, why did he keep doing the job?” McFarland said. “Why didn’t he come out? Why didn’t he quit? Why didn’t he say, ‘Look, this man is a threat to the nation.’ And even more so during impeachment. John Bolton could have testified. But he didn’t. His book wasn’t out yet. He wasn’t going to make any money if he testified.
“So the whole thing doesn’t quite ring true to me.”
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