U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton gives statements to media in Jerusalem, Sunday, June 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov, Pool)
President Trump announced Tuesday, through a series of tweets, that he has fired National Security Adviser John Bolton.
“I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House,” the president tweeted, indicating that he and others within his administration disagreed strongly with Bolton on many issues.
Twitter provided evidence that the disagreements between Bolton and the administration may continue. Shortly after the news broke, Bolton tweeted a brief statement about his departure. It said he offered to resign Monday, and the president told him, “Let’s talk about it tomorrow.”
Bolton is the third national security adviser to serve the Trump administration. Events over the last several months indicated a possible rift between Bolton and the president. Most notably, when President Trump arranged a meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un via Twitter in June, Bolton opted to keep his previously-arranged trip to Mongolia rather than accompany the president to the Demilitarized Zone.
Bolton also reportedly opposed a secret plan to bring negotiators from the Taliban to Camp David for talks. President Trump later revealed the secret talks were called off after the group admitted to killing a US soldier.
Many in the White House appeared to be caught off-guard by Bolton’s resignation. About an hour before the president tweeted the announcement, the White House press office announced Bolton would attend a briefing with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. After the tweet, a White House official told the Associated Press Bolton had departed the premises and would not be involved in the briefing after all.
Before serving in the Trump administration, Bolton served as undersecretary of state and ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush.
The president’s previous national security advisers, Michael Flynn and Gen. H. R. McMaster, both left after short tenures. Flynn resigned after 24 days amid controversy over his conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the US. He later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about those conversations. McMaster was the subject of rumors about disagreements within the administration for months before announcing his retirement, just over a year after accepting the position.