Bolton Skips Talk Show as Trump Punishes CNN

But he does appear on ABC to talk Putin
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 15, 2018 12:45 PM CDT
Bolton Skips Talk Show as Trump Punishes CNN
US National security adviser John Bolton gestures while speaking to the media after his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, June 27, 2018.   (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

John Bolton grabbed headlines Sunday for appearing and not appearing on morning talk shows. The White House nixed his planned appearance on CNN's State of the Union after President Trump apparently felt disrespected by a CNN journalist Friday, Bloomberg reports. "Actually a @CNN reporter disrespected @POTUS & PM May during their press conf," Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted. "Instead of rewarding bad behavior, we decided to reprioritize the TV appearances for administration officials." At the London presser, Trump had "a tense exchange" with CNN journalist Jake Acosta after refusing to take his question, per the Hill. "CNN is fake news. I don't take questions from CNN," Trump told Acosta. "Let's go to a real network," he added, turning to a Fox reporter. But Bolton did appear on ABC's This Week:

  • Disbelief: "I find it hard to believe," Bolton said when asked if Vladimir Putin took part in Russia's alleged hacks of the 2016 presidential election, per Politico. "But that's what one of the purposes of [Trump's upcoming summit with Putin] is, so the president can see eye to eye with President Putin and ask him about it."
  • Stronger now: Trump "was perfectly prepared to have [the indictment] come before the meeting with Putin," said Bolton of the 12 Russian intelligence officers indicted Friday for hacking the US election, per the Hill. "It shows that the justice system, the Department of Justice, are aware of these Russian efforts in election meddling, and I think the president can put this on the table and say, this is a serious matter that we need to talk about."
  • No extradition: "It's pretty silly for the president to demand something that he can’t get legally," Bolton said about Trump asking Putin to extradite the 12 officers, the Hill reports. "And this is a very serious matter. The Russians take the position, you can like it or not like it, that their constitution forbids them to extradite Russian citizens."
For non-Bolton news around the dial:

  • Impeachment: "No. For what? Impeach him for what. No," Rep. Trey Gowdy said on CBS's Face the Nation about possibly impeaching Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, per Politico. "I've had my differences with Rod Rosenstein. ... If President Trump is dissatisfied with Rod Rosenstein, he can fire him with a tweet."
  • The NATO summit: "I think the NATO summit actually turned out pretty well. There’s always drama that comes into these summits," said Sen. Dan Sullivan on NBC's Meet the Press, per the Hill. "You had the president fully recommitting to our focus on NATO. Very importantly, we made progress on the 2 percent GDP spending."
  • Trump & Putin: "Frankly, one of the things I'm most worried about is we need to have other Americans in the room," Sen. Mark Warner said on State of the Union regarding the Trump-Putin summit, per the Hill. "Vladimir Putin is a trained KGB agent, he may come in with maps of Syria, maps of Ukraine. And frankly, I think he'll take advantage of this president whom we know doesn't do much prep work before these meetings."
  • Annexation of Crimea: "Highly unlikely," said US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman on Fox News Sunday when asked whether Trump would approve Russia's annexation of Crimea, per the Hill. "Crimea was a violation of international law. We all recognize that. That’s US policy."
  • Nancy Pelosi: "Well look, you know, I do think that that'll be up to the new Congress to decide who the next leader or speaker ... be," said Rep. Joe Crowley, a top House Democrat, when asked on CBS' Face the Nation if he would support Pelosi as speaker, per Politico. "If we win the House back, Nancy will have a very strong case for holding on to the speakership."
Click to learn about Trump's legal advice for British Prime Minister Theresa May.
(More Sunday morning talk shows stories.)

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