John Bolton Out at the White House

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced he had fired National Security Advisor John Bolton.

“I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House. 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. I thank John very much for his service. I will be naming a new National Security Advisor next week,” the president tweeted.

I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House. I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration, and therefore….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 10, 2019

For his part, Bolton recounted, “I offered to resign last night and President Trump said, ‘Let’s talk about it tomorrow.'”

I offered to resign last night and President Trump said, "Let's talk about it tomorrow."

— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) September 10, 2019

The president’s announcement came 90 minutes before Bolton was expected to appear at a press briefing with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, CNBC reported.

Over the weekend, Trump aborted a potential meeting with Taliban leaders at Camp David, a summit intended to bring peace to Afghanistan and pave the way for the withdrawal of American troops.

When asked if Trump’s Taliban snafu was the breaking point for his relationship with Bolton, White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said, “No — it was many, many issues.”

Bolton who served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under President George W. Bush, is a former senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and served as a foreign policy advisor to Mitt Romney in 2012. As under secretary of State in the early years of the Bush administration, he was tasked with preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and his work contributed to the U.S. entering the Iraq War in 2003.

Bolton has long been criticized as a neoconservative (a term he rejects) and a warmonger.

Follow Tyler O’Neil, the author of this article, on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.