John Bolton Hits Out Against Republicans Who Say Trump Should be Pardoned: ‘Disqualifies Those People From Being President’
Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton hit out against Republican primary candidates who said former President Donald Trump should be pardoned, arguing that such a position should disqualify those candidates from becoming president.
During an appearance on CNN Tonight, Bolton said, “I think it’s unlikely that a former president would be actually put in jail. I can’t imagine what the Secret Service would think of that and what it would do to their job. You know, there comes a point where the penalty just makes him into a martyr.”
Asked about Trump’s 2024 Republican primary rivals who have said that he shouldn’t be prosecuted at all, Bolton said, “I think that disqualifies those people from being president, and I think I would say the same for any of them who have said he should be pardoned.”
He continued:
You know, part of the equal application of the law is that everybody has to be held to the same standard, and frankly, I’ll just show my biases here, when it comes to national security information, I can’t think of a higher duty for the president, a higher example of leadership to sit, for everybody below him in the executive branch who deals with classified information, than to handle it carefully. Which Trump has flouted. He did for four years in office, he’s done it since then, and I think there’s something to be said to show to people that you’re held to the highest standards because everybody else is, including the president, and when you fail to uphold those standards, you pay the penalty.
Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 counts related to his retention of government documents this month.
While some 2024 Republican presidential candidates, including Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley, have either pledged or indicated that they would pardon Trump if he is found guilty, others like Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence have refused to say.
Watch above via CNN.
