Amidst a war of words between the Trump administration and John Bolton, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has accused him of being a traitor, saying he damaged America by violating his sacred trust with the people.
On the other hand, Bolton fired back and said that a series of tweets by President Donald Trump against him were unbecoming of the office of the president.
Pompeo, in a statement in response to the excerpts from a book of Bolton who has made some stunning allegations against Trump, said that he has not read the book, but from the excerpts I’ve seen published, John 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, the Secretary of State said.
Excerpts from the book, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, were carried by The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
Published by Simon & Schuster, the book is slated to hit the stores on June 23.
Trump had fired Bolton last year as the National Security Adviser, saying he had done some “big mistakes” and his actions were not in line with the administration.
In the book, Bolton claims that Trump virtually pleaded with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at a G-20 summit for help in his reelection.
Earlier in a series of tweets, Trump said that Bolton’s book, which is getting terrible reviews, is a compilation of lies and made up stories, all intended to make me look bad.
Many of the ridiculous statements he attributes to me were never made, pure fiction. Just trying to get even for firing him like the sick puppy he is! Trump said.
When Wacko John Bolton went on Deface the Nation and so stupidly said that he looked at the Libyan Model for North Korea, all hell broke out. Kim Jong-un, who we were getting along with very well, went ballistic, just like his missiles – and rightfully so, Trump said, adding that he did not want Bolton anywhere near him.
The president said that Bolton’s dumbest of all statements set the US back very badly with North Korea, even now.
I asked him, what the hell were you thinking? He had no answer and just apologised. That was early on, I should have fired him right then & there! Trump tweeted.
Responding to Trump’s tweets, Bolton told ABC News “I think it’s unbecoming of the Office of President. I think it degrades the political civil discourse in our country and (I’m) just not going to respond to him.
He refuted the allegations that the book contains classified information.
“When I wrote the book, to begin with, I was very conscious to avoid putting in anything that I thought could be deemed classifiable, and I didn’t think I had to put the book through the pre-publication clearance process for that reason.
But we did out of an abundance of caution and then went through four arduous months of making sure there was nothing classified and I believe that strongly today, Bolton added.