Longtime Republican official
John Bolton admitted during a
televised interview Tuesday that he has
helped plan coups outside of the United
States.
Bolton, who
served
as former President Donald Trump's
national security adviser, appeared on
CNN to discuss the
congressional committee investigating
the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S.
Capitol.
After Bolton claimed that Trump's lies
about the 2020 presidential election
that provoked last year's Capitol attack
were not part of "a carefully planned
coup d'état aimed at the Constitution,"
host Jake Tapper said that "I don't know
that I agree with you, to be fair, with
all due respect. One doesn't have to be
brilliant to attempt a coup."
Bolton responded that "I disagree with
that. As somebody who has helped plan
coups d'état, not here, but, you know,
other places, it takes a lot of work.
And that's not what he did."
Tapper followed up on coup comments, and
Bolton—who also held roles in the
administrations of former Presidents
Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and
George W. Bush—initially said that "I'm
not gonna get into the specifics."
Bolton then pointed out that in his
recently released book, he wrote about
the failed effort to overthrow
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in
2019. The Trump administration notably
backed
opposition leader Juan Guaidó.
However, as reporters and others—such as
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)—were
quick to highlight, Bolton has a long
history of supporting such efforts.
As
HuffPost
detailed
Tuesday:
In 2004, while Bolton was serving in
the State Department, the U.S. faced
allegations of backing the overthrow
of Haiti's president. A former
French ambassador
told
The New York Times this
year that the U.S. and France had
"effectively orchestrated" the coup.
Bolton has a long history of
advocating for coups and supporting
regime change plots. He advocated
for regime change in Iraq ahead of a
war he helped orchestrate and said
in 2018 that the United States
should overthrow the government of
Iran.
Critics of Bolton shared a range of
reactions on social media.
Philadelphia Inquirer
columnist Will Bunch
tweeted
that "I've been investigating U.S.
imperialism for decades,
and...he...just...blurted...it...out."
"America in one clip,"
More
Perfect Union's Jordan Zakarin
said
of the interview, describing Bolton as
"a
bloodthirsty right-wing war hawk" who
was given a platform to "brazenly admit
to secret war crimes without worrying
about any consequences whatsoever."
"It's just a little oopsies, a meme for
a few days," Zakarin
added,
declaring that "this is even more
embarrassing for CNN."
