....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.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 10, 2019
Source:
https://scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3026606/donald-trump-fires-national-security-chief-john United States & Canada
John Bolton blindsided as Donald Trump announces on Twitter he’s fired as national security adviser
- US president ‘disagreed strongly’ with top aide on many issues, with latest dispute arising over whether to hold secret summit at Camp David
- Bolton says he had offered to resign on Monday, but Trump said ‘let’s talk about it tomorrow’
National security adviser John Bolton speaks to reporters in November 2018. Photo: AP
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he has fired his hawkish national security adviser, John Bolton, after disagreeing “strongly” with many of his positions, ending a tumultuous tenure marked by multiple setbacks in US foreign policy.
Bolton, known for his hardline approach to US adversaries, including Iran, North Korea and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, was the third person to formally occupy the White House’s highest-ranking national security job under Trump.
“I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House,” Trump said in a pair of tweets. “I thank John very much for his service. I will be naming a new National Security Advisor next week.”
Bolton had been expected to take part in a White House press briefing on terrorism on Tuesday. Minutes after Trump’s announcement, Bolton contradicted the president on Twitter, saying that he had offered to resign on Monday night and Trump deferred the discussion.
Trump and Bolton had disagreed on “many, many issues”, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said. Most recently, Bolton had advised the president against a meeting he had planned with the Taliban at Camp David to complete negotiations to end the war in Afghanistan.
Bolton was also sceptical of Trump’s overtures to Kim Jong-un. He was conspicuously absent in June when Trump made a snap decision to meet the North Korean leader at the demilitarised zone; Bolton instead travelled to Mongolia to meet officials there.
His allies regarded Bolton as a handbrake on Trump’s worst instincts; one person close to Bolton pointed out that in his tenure, the president had not made any “bad deals” in places including Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria or Afghanistan. Grisham overheard the person speaking to a small group of reporters at the White House and remarked sharply: “Right outside my office.”
Bolton’s departure is a boon for Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, who had clashed with the national security adviser and now assumes an unchallenged role as Trump’s closest adviser on foreign policy. Charlie Kupperman, the deputy national security adviser, will assume Bolton’s position on an acting basis, deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley said.
Kupperman is a Bolton confidant who has counselled the former national security adviser for more than 30 years, Bolton has said. Grisham said it was “too soon to say” whether Bolton’s closest National Security Council aides would remain in their jobs.
Possible Bolton replacements discussed by Trump associates include Robert O’Brien, who is the president’s envoy for hostage affairs, and Brian Hook, Pompeo’s senior policy adviser.
Gidley said in an interview on Fox News after Trump’s announcement that it had become “very clear that John Bolton’s policies and priorities did not align with President Trump’s”.
After Bolton’s departure, Kupperman and White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told a gathering of the NSC’s senior directors that Trump’s policies had not changed and they should stay focused on their priorities, according to three people familiar with the matter. Kupperman will take a leave for a scheduled surgery in less than two weeks, they said.
I offered to resign last night and President Trump said, "Let's talk about it tomorrow."
— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) September 10, 2019
The break came days after Trump abandoned his plan to meet the Taliban at Camp David, capping a tough week.
On Friday, the president’s adviser on North Korea said negotiations have been stalled for months. On Thursday, Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt announced his intention to depart; the vaunted Israeli-Palestinian peace plan he has been working on has yet to be unveiled. The US-China trade war drags on.
Bolton, 70, joined the White House in April 2018, bringing an interventionist view into Trump’s inner circle.
From the outset, he seemed like an odd fit for a president who champions an “America First” agenda and campaigned on disengaging the US from wars prosecuted by his predecessors. At times, Bolton pursued his own long-standing foreign policy priorities, creating tension with top administration officials and the president himself.
Bolton came to the post best known for his ardent support of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq while serving in the George W. Bush administration. He was later a Fox News contributor and senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
Since joining Trump’s White House, Bolton sought to break Iran financially, shield Americans from the reach of the International Criminal Court and toughen US posture toward Russia. Bolton was a leading voice promoting US support for the ousting of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, an effort that has not been successful.
Western diplomats view Bolton’s departure as a sign that a meeting between Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rowhani is increasingly likely to happen at the UN General Assembly later this month, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Trump has offered to meet Rowhani to discuss a new agreement to prevent the country from obtaining nuclear weapons, but the Iranians have demanded that the US first relax sanctions on Tehran. Bolton has been an outspoken critic of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that Trump abandoned and has urged increased economic pressure on the Islamic Republic.
US President Donald Trump (left) at a meeting in the Oval office in May 2018 as national security adviser John Bolton watches. Photo: AP
Bolton, whom the president sometimes called “the Moustache” because of his trademark facial hair, has also clashed with Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin over sanctions against Iran. Bolton has argued that waivers for the sanctions were too generous toward Iran.
His departure drew mixed reactions from Republican lawmakers. Senator Mitt Romney said it was a “huge loss” for the administration. Bolton’s “point of view is not always the same as everyone else in the room. That’s why you want him there”, Romney said.
Senator Rand Paul said the threat of war “goes down exponentially with John Bolton out of the White House”.
“I think his advocacy for regime change around the world is a naive world view and I think the world will be a much better place with a new adviser,” Paul said.