Never-Trump Ex-Adviser Laughs Out Loud at Trump Excuse For Ousting Mike Waltz

Never-Trump former National Security Adviser John Bolton laughed out loud at the idea that President Donald Trump ousted Mike Waltz from his post in order to promote him.

News broke Thursday morning that Waltz was out as White House national security adviser, but by the end of the day, Trump announced that Waltz was being appointed U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and Secretary of State Marco Rubio would assume the NatSec post on an interim basis.

Bolton was a guest on Thursday night’s edition of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, during which host Anderson Cooper drew a hearty laugh by asking about the Trump administration spin that this was a promotion:

COOPER: Obviously, representing the U.S. and the U.N. is an important job. Do you believe Vice-President Vance, his claim that Mike Waltz is leaving his job not because of the Signal scandal, but because the White House wanted to promote him.

JOHN BOLTON: Of course not. I mean, I think it really just shows how little about National Security J.D. Vance knows. If you took a hundred people anywhere in this country who know anything about National Security Democrat, Republican, Independent, whatever, and ask them objectively, do you think National Security adviser or U.N. ambassador is the more important job?

I will bet a small amount — I will bet a large amount of money that 90 out of a hundred, if not 99 out of a hundred would say National Security adviser is the more important job.

COOPER: By the way, you have a lot of credibility on this, given that you both — you have held both of these positions. So in your opinion, having been the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., you say the National Security adviser is a more important job?

BOLTON: I don’t think there’s any question about it. I love being U.N. ambassador, don’t get me wrong. But it just — it doesn’t compare. I think what Kaitlan Collins just said about Trump making the decision this morning is interesting. That was my sense that they were — that this news that Waltz was imminently on his way out, not that he was just a dead man walking and would go maybe in August or at some point so that nobody could claim Trump had bowed to media or Democratic political pressure, and somehow it took on a life of their own, its own and Trump wanted to find a way to ease the passage. They had a vacancy given Elise Stefanik’s nomination had been pulled and somebody said, maybe Trump himself, hey, why don’t we give the U.N. job to Mike Waltz.

It was also pretty clear that they had not picked a successor. Whatever the state of play in Waltz’s departure was. An organized White House would announce the successor immediately. And the fact that they didn’t have a successor showed they weren’t ready to make the announcement and to have Marco Rubio serve on an interim basis is just absolutely bizarre.

I mean this — compare this with Richard Nixon in the depths of Watergate, almost about to lose his job, he loses William Rogers as Secretary of State. He nominates Kissinger because he knows he can get Kissinger confirmed. There’s only one Henry Kissinger. And then, serving through Nixon’s resignation. What kind of look is that for the Trump administration?

Watch above via Anderson Cooper 360.