Trump: I Fired John Bolton. Bolton: No, I Resigned

Either way, the national security adviser is out of a job
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 10, 2019 11:14 AM CDT
Updated Sep 10, 2019 11:49 AM CDT
John Bolton Is Out as National Security Adviser
In this file photo, John Bolton talks to reporters outside the White House in Washington.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

John Bolton is out—whether he resigned or got fired is another question. President Trump announced on Twitter Tuesday that he gave the hawkish national security adviser his walking papers. "I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House," Trump wrote. "I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration, and therefore I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning." But Bolton then tweeted himself and disputed that version of events: "I offered to resign last night and President Trump said, 'Let's talk about it tomorrow.'" Either way, Trump said he would name a successor next week. The two have indeed clashed over policy, though the Wall Street Journal notes that Trump has previously defended Bolton and said he appreciated hearing different viewpoints.

Bolton was Trump's third national security adviser, notes the New York Times, which observes that Bolton's admirers saw him as a "check on what they feared would be naïve diplomacy, a cleareyed realist who would keep a president without prior experience in foreign affairs from giving away the store to wily adversaries." Trump, though, reportedly grumbled that Bolton would get him into a war. Among others things, Bolton disagreed with Trump's decision to call off an airstrike on Iran, his willingness to talk to North Korea's Kim Jong-Un and, more recently, the decision to invite Taliban leaders to Camp David. The latter meeting was canceled at the last minute. (More John Bolton stories.)

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