Voice of America
12 Sep 2019, 04:05 GMT+10
U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that John Bolton, dismissed a day earlier as national security adviser, had been a "disaster" on North Korea policy, "out of line" on Venezuela, and did not get along with important administration officials.
Trump said Bolton had made mistakes, including offending North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un by demanding that he follow a "Libyan model" and hand over all his nuclear weapons.
"We were set back very badly when John Bolton talked about the Libyan model ... what a disaster," Trump told reporters at the White House.
"He's using that to make a deal with North Korea? And I don't blame Kim Jong Un for what he said after that, and he wanted nothing to do with John Bolton. And that's not a question of being tough. That's a question of being not smart to say something like that."
Trump also said he disagreed with Bolton on Venezuela but offered no specifics. "I thought he was way out of line and I think I've proven to be right," the president said.
Trump said Bolton, with his abrasive, hardline approach, "wasn't getting along with people in the administration that I consider very important."
"John wasn't in line with what we were doing," he added.
Trump said he got along with Bolton and hoped they parted on good terms, but added: "Maybe we have and maybe we haven't. I have to run the country the way we're running the country."
Trump had been growing more impatient with the failure to oust socialist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro through a U.S.-led campaign of sanctions and diplomacy in which Bolton was a driving force.
Bolton was also a chief architect of the Trump administration's hardline policy on Iran.
Asked whether he would consider easing sanctions on Iran to secure a meeting with its leader President Hassan Rouhani at this month's U.N. General Assembly, Trump replied: "We'll see what happens." Bolton had opposed such a step.
North Korea
North Korea has denounced Bolton as a "war maniac" and "human scum." Last year, it threatened to call off a first summit between Kim and Trump after Bolton suggested the Libya model of unilateral disarmament. In the past, Bolton had proposed using military force to overthrow the country's ruling dynasty.
Trump's efforts to engage with North Korea nearly fell apart altogether in February after he followed Bolton's advice at a second summit in Hanoi and handed Kim a piece of paper that called for the transfer of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and bomb fuel to the United States.
Trump announced he had fired Bolton a day after North Korea signaled a new willingness to resume stalled denuclearization talks, but it then proceeded with the latest in a spate of missile test launches.
Analysts say Bolton's removal could help U.S. efforts to revive the talks, but will not make it easier for Washington to persuade Pyongyang to give up nuclear weapons.
Washington has given no indication that it will soften its demand for North Korea's ultimate denuclearization, even though with Bolton gone, the risky all-or-nothing gambit is unlikely to be repeated so bluntly.
"This change in personnel could carve out some space for new approaches or thinking about what defines success and how to achieve it," said Jenny Town at 38 North, a Washington-based North Korea project. "Whether it actually does or whether Bolton's view was more deeply entrenched in U.S. thinking on this matter is yet to be seen."
Get a daily dose of San Jose Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to San Jose Sun.
More Information(Photo credit: John Jones-Imagn Images) One day after he was placed on the injured list with forearm tightness, New York Yankees...
(Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images) The Arizona Diamondbacks reinstated right fielder Corbin Carroll from the 10-day...
(Photo credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images) Sacramento State head coach Brennan Marion reached into Southeastern Conference territory...
(Photo credit: Paul Witwer/Standard-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images) The Houston Texans announced a $500,000 commitment...
(Photo credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images) The New York Mets are signing Italian pitcher Matteo Marelli, the first European amateur...
(Photo credit: Ronald W. Erdrich/Reporter-News / USA TODAY NETWORK) Four-star wide receiver Kaydon Finley has committed to Notre...
FRANKLIN, Tennessee: Hundreds of thousands of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles are being recalled across the United States due to a potential...
REDMOND, Washington: Microsoft is the latest tech giant to announce significant job cuts, as the financial strain of building next-generation...
LONDON UK - U.S. stock markets were closed on Friday for Independence Day. Global Forex Markets Wrap Up Friday with Greeback Comeback...
SANTA CLARA, California: Nvidia came within a whisker of making financial history on July 3, briefly surpassing Apple's all-time market...
SACRAMENTO, California: California's multibillion-dollar farms are facing a growing crisis—not from drought or pests, but from a sudden...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: President Donald Trump says the United States could soon reach a trade deal with India. He believes this deal would...