Former National Security Adviser John Bolton 'prepared' to run against Trump

Trump and National Security Adviser John Bolton

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

published 6 December 2022

John Bolton, onetime national security adviser and United Nations ambassador for former President Donald Trump, has suggested he will throw his hat into the 2024 GOP presidential campaign, should Republicans not sufficiently denounce Trump as "un-American."

In interviews with NBC on Monday, and CNN Tuesday morning, Bolton — who has never held elected office — affirmed that he was "prepared" to challenge Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, explaining that candidates "can't simply say 'I support the Constitution."

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Bolton's threat to enter the race comes as GOP officials have largely offered muted criticisms of Trump's recent call for "termination" of the U.S. Constitution, and the reinstatement of himself as president following his 2020 electoral defeat. Bolton had previously mulled entering the 2016 presidential race but ultimately demurred, later serving as the Trump administration's national security adviser. He left the administration under dubious circumstances in 2019, and has become a vocal critic of the Trump White House, and the former president himself, since returning to private life. Trump has similarly raged against his onetime adviser, claiming in 2020 that "if I listened to him, we would be in World War Six by now," and reportedly encouraged a criminal investigation of Bolton, as well.

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Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.

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