Former U.S. national security adviser John Bolton speaks during his lecture at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, U.S., February 17, 2020. /Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called former national security adviser John Bolton a "traitor" following Thursday's partial revelations of the latter's new bombshell book on working for U.S. President Donald Trump.
"I don't think he's fit for office. I don't think he has the competence to carry out the job," Bolton told ABC News when promoting his book "The Room Where it Happened."
Pompeo tweeted that although he hasn't read the book, but based on leaked excerpts, Bolton "is spreading a number of lies, fully-spun half-truths, and outright falsehoods."
"It is both sad and dangerous that John Bolton's final public role is that of a traitor who damaged America by violating his sacred trust with its people," he said, while defending the Trump presidency as "a force for good in the world."
Trump's presidency was put in turmoil as on the same day, the Supreme Court blocked a key part of his re-election vow to deport undocumented migrants.
A Supreme Court ruling against Trump administration's bid to remove protections for hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants classified as "Dreamers" struck another body blow.
Trump's once supremely self-confident march toward a second term was already in a hole due to criticism over his responses to the coronavirus pandemic and nationwide anti-racism protests, and he is now facing a blistering insider attack from Bolton, a lifelong Republican who saw Trump from up close as national security advisor in his memoir.
The book – which the White House is trying desperately to get blocked by court order – alleges that Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping for re-election help, obstructed justice and was no match for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Putin thinks he can play him like a fiddle," Bolton told ABC.
Trump, who has assiduously built his image as a president who is tough on China, lashed back at Bolton, calling him a "sick puppy" and dismissing the book as "fiction."
In an apparent bid to underline his tough stance, Trump threatened in a tweet that a "complete decoupling" between the deeply entwined U.S. and Chinese economies is an "option." Just the previous day, his hawkish trade ambassador Robert Lighthizer had told Congress this would be unfeasible.
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A copy of "The Room Where It Happened," by former national security adviser John Bolton, is photographed at the White House, Washington, June 18, 2020, /AP
'He set us back with the DPRK'
Trump on Thursday also blamed Bolton, for the current deadlock in nuclear talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
"When Wacko John Bolton went on Deface the Nation and so stupidly said that he looked at the 'Libyan Model' for North Korea (the DPRK), all hell broke out," Yonhap reported, citing Trump's tweets, which, refers to Bolton's April 2018 interview on the CBS show, "Face the Nation."
The Libya model centers on denuclearization in exchange for concessions, which would require the DPRK to permanently dismantle all its nuclear and postpone its ballistic missile facilities and program before concessions and sanction relief get granted to the country. The model was firmly opposed by the DPRK side, who, insists on a synchronized approach instead.
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DPRK slams Bolton's missile comments 'more than ignorant'
DPRK military conducts a "strike drill" for multiple launchers and tactical guided weapons into the East Sea during a military drill in the DPRK, May 4, 2019, photo supplied by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). /Reuters
Trump blamed Bolton's policy on the DPRK since the former national security adviser left the administration last September, saying Bolton set the U.S. back "very badly."
"We were set back very badly when John Bolton talked about the Libyan model," Trump told reporters shortly after Bolton left the office. "He made a mistake. And as soon as he mentioned that, the 'Libyan model,' what a disaster."
"Kim Jong Un, who we were getting along with very well, went 'ballistic,' just like his missiles - and rightfully so," Trump said of the DPRK leader,
"He (Kim) didn't want Bolton anywhere near him. Bolton's dumbest of all statements set us back very badly with the DPRK, even now," Trump wrote on Twitter, adding he should have fired him right after his failed talks with the DPRK.
Trump and Kim have met three times in the past two years trying to reach a deal on dismantling the DPRK nuclear weapons program in exchange for U.S. concessions, but the effort has stalled since their second summit in February 2019 ended abruptly due to differences on the approach to realize denuclearization.
Bolton's memoir quoted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who said a month after the first Trump-Kim summit in June 2018 that he thought Trump's nuclear diplomacy with North Korea (DPRK) had "zero probability of success," as The New York Times reported Wednesday.
(With input from AFP)