Bolton rips Trump in ABC interview: 'I don't think he's fit for office'


A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton is continuing his brutal assessment of his former boss, this time in an ABC interview.
Bolton sat down with ABC's Martha Raddatz for an interview set to air Sunday ahead of the release of his new book, and the network is now dropping the first clips, showing Bolton tearing into Trump as someone not fit to be president.
"I don't think he's fit for office," Bolton tells Raddatz. "I don't think he has the competence to carry out the job. There really isn't any guiding principle that I was able to discern other than what's good for Donald Trump's re-election."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Elaborating on that last point, Bolton reiterates a claim from his book that Trump would frequently only consider the way decisions would help his re-election, such as obsessing over "the press reaction" to a photo-op with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and not thinking about "what such meetings did for the bargaining position of the United States." In another clip, Bolton tells ABC that Russian President Vladimir Putin "thinks he can play [Trump] like a fiddle" and isn't "worried about Donald Trump" because he "sees that he's not faced with a serious adversary here."
Bolton is set to release his tell-all book The Room Where It Happened next week, and reports emerged on Wednesday revealing numerous details from it, including the claim that Trump begged for Chinese President Xi Jinping's help in winning re-election. In a late-night tweet, Trump blasted Bolton as a "wacko" and a "dope" whose book is "made up of lies & fake stories," despite his administration also saying it contains classified information. Brendan Morrow
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Brendan is a staff writer at The Week. A graduate of Hofstra University with a degree in journalism, he also writes about horror films for Bloody Disgusting and has previously contributed to The Cheat Sheet, Heavy, WhatCulture, and more. He lives in New York City surrounded by Star Wars posters.
-
What to know when filing a hurricane insurance claim
The Explainer A step-by-step to figure out what insurance will cover and what else you can do beyond filing a claim
By Becca Stanek Published
-
How fees impact your investment portfolio — and how to save on them
The Explainer Even seemingly small fees can take a big bite out of returns
By Becca Stanek Published
-
Enemy without
Cartoons
By The Week Staff Published
-
Rishi Sunak lambasts China after allegations of spy in UK Parliament
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Judge denies Mark Meadows' request to move Georgia case to federal court
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson dies at 75
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Clarence Thomas officially discloses trips from billionaire GOP donor
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Judge schedules Trump federal election plot trial for crowded March 2024
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Trump surrenders in Georgia election subversion case
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin ally-turned-rival, presumed dead in plane crash
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Mar-a-Lago IT director flipped on Trump after dropping Trump-linked lawyer, special counsel says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published