US President Donald Trump has fired his national security adviser, John Bolton, in a pair of tweets in which he laid bare searing internal divisions within his inner circle, saying he had “disagreed strongly” with his top aide.
“I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House. I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration, and therefore I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning,” Trump said in a tweet.
“I thank John very much for his service. I will be naming a new National Security Advisor next week,” Trump continued.
This comes about 90 minutes before Bolton was expected to appear at a press briefing with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Bolton offered a slightly different version of events than Trump, saying: “I offered to resign last night and President Trump said, ‘Let’s talk about it tomorrow.’”
Trump had sometimes joked about Bolton’s image as a warmonger, reportedly saying in one Oval Office meeting that “John has never seen a war he doesn’t like.”
Bolton has adopted an aggressive approach towards Iran since his appointment to the top post by Trump. Independent observers have accused him of conniving with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in order to provoke a military conflict between Iran and the United States.
Bolton has also opposed Trump’s peace initiative towards North Korea and urged the president to pursue gunboat diplomacy against the East Asian country.
Source: Agencies
