US president Trump ousts national security advisor Bolton

Thursday, September 12, 2019

On Tuesday, United States President Donald Trump announced he had asked for national security advisor John R. Bolton's resignation Monday night, and that Bolton tendered it the next morning.

Bolton had held the position since April 2018 and was the third official to serve in that office during the Trump administration since 2017.

"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," wrote Trump on Twitter, "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."

Bolton gave a different account of events, also speaking via Twitter: "I offered to resign last night and President Trump said, 'Let's talk about it tomorrow.' "

Reportedly, Trump and Bolton have been at odds over the president's handling of issues with North Korea, Iran and the Afghan Taliban. Bolton was also much more of a critic of Russia than was Trump. Reportedly also, Bolton often had disagreements with Mike Pompeo who is the secretary of state.

"I don't think that any leader around the world should make any assumption that because some one of us departs that President Trump’s foreign policy will change in a material way", Pompeo told the press on Tuesday. "There were many times that Ambassador Bolton and I disagreed. That's to be sure."

Bolton previously served as the US ambassador to the United Nations under former president George W. Bush.

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Sources

Zeke Miller, Deb Riechmann (AP). "Trump ousts hawkish Bolton, dissenter on foreign policy" — SFGate, September 10, 2019
Steve Holland, Matt Spetalnick. "Trump fires foreign policy hawk Bolton, citing strong disagreements" — Reuters, September 10, 2019
Donald Trump. "@realDonaldTrump" — Twitter, September 10, 2019
John R. Bolton. "@AmbJohnBolton" — Twitter, September 10, 2019

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