John Bolton accuses Donald Trump of letting personal or business interests dictate relations with Turkey because NONE of his aides agreed with him in ‘shocking’ private speech to hedge fund giants
- Former National Security Advisor John Bolton complained about President Trump’s foreign policy stances at a Morgan Stanley event in Miami last week
- Attendees told NBC News that Bolton said he was most frustrated over Trump’s relationship with Turkey, suggesting he’s being motivated by business interests
- Bolton also warned that Trump could be swayed to pull the U.S. out of NATO or appoint a liberal Supreme Court justice, emboldened in his second term
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton accused President Trump of letting personal or business interests guide his foreign policy with Turkey.
NBC News reported on a number of shocking remarks made by Bolton at a private Morgan Stanley event in Miami on Wednesday.
Bolton was most frustrated with Trump on Turkey, telling the crowd that he believed something else was motivating the president’s actions toward that country, because none of his advisers agreed with his moves.
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton made ‘shocking’ comments in a speech last week, accusing President Trump of being motivated by personal and business interests in his dealings with Turkey
President Trump, photographed making a speech in New York Tuesday, will host Turkish President President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House Wednesday
Trump hosts Turkish President President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House Wednesday.
Bolton recalled how there was strong bipartisan support in Congress to sanction Turkey after Erdogan purchased a Russian missile defense system, defying the United States and NATO allies.
But Trump didn’t share their appetite.
Bolton, who left the White House in September, hinted there was a reason for that.
The Trump Organization has a property in Istanbul, Turkey’s capital.
More recently, after a phone call with Erdogan, Trump agreed to remove U.S. forces from northeast Syria to let Turkish forces come in. This put the U.S.’s Kurdish allies in jeopardy of being killed by the Turks.
Even GOP allies of the president, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said this decision was a blunder.
One fear was that it would embolden Russia.
Bolton talked about Russia too, telling the crowd that no matter how much evidence is presented to Trump that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign, he discounts it, afraid that it takes away from the legitimacy of his own election.
John Bolton suggested Jared Kushner (left) and Ivanka Trump (right) could persuade the president to appoint a liberal Supreme Court Justice in his second term – in order to show they’re the real powerbrokers in the White House and ingratiate them with New York society
The most jaw-dropping comments Bolton made, according to NBC’s reporting, were about what Trump would do if he won four more years next November.
Bolton predicted that Trump could go full isolationist like the Sen. Rand Paul wing of the Republican Party. The president has often complained about the price of NATO and he’s scoffed at the United Nations. Emboldened by re-election he could simply pull the United States out.
The former national security adviser’s next prediction was more wacky.
He suggested that Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner could pressure the president to change course – and he, in turn, would appoint a liberal justice to the Supreme Court. Attendees at the event told NBC that Bolton floated the name Lawrence Tribe, a Harvard Law professor who’s a critic of Trump’s.
With an eye roll, Bolton said Ivanka Trump and Kushner would be motivated to do this to show that they were the true influencers in the Trump White House. And it would ingratiate them to society back in New York.
Attendees told NBC that the audience appeared ‘shocked.’
Bolton also plugged the book he’s been writing, suggesting there was more where that came from.