John Bolton: Trump made it ‘that much easier’ for Putin to invade Ukraine
Former President Trump’s top national security adviser thinks his old boss did “a lot of damage” to U.S.-Ukraine relations during his time in office—and emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton said Trump’s delay of military aid to Ukraine in 2019, as he pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for dirt on then-presidential candidate Joe Biden, made clear to Putin exactly how little Trump cared about Ukraine.
“He obviously saw that Trump had contempt for the Ukrainians. I think that had an impact,” Bolton told VICE News on Tuesday.
Bolton, a top Republican foreign policy hawk who also served as President George W. Bush’s United Nations Ambassador, fought hard inside the Trump administration to make sure the military aid Trump was withholding eventually got released, over protestations from Trump lackeys—then promptly resigned from office. He said he doesn’t regret that he didn’t testify at Trump’s first impeachment trial, which investigated Trump’s attempts at a quid pro quo in Ukraine, but said that he thought a broader investigation “could have led to impeachable offenses.” [Continue reading…]