John Bolton Sharply Criticizes Trump Admin in Axios Interview, Believes Its North Korea Policy is Failing

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Former National Security Adviser John Bolton sharply criticized President Donald Trump’s stance toward North Korea in a new interview, arguing the administration may have to admit its policy is failing.

Bolton told Axios’ Jonathan Swan in an exclusive interview that “the idea that we are somehow exerting maximum pressure on North Korea is just unfortunately not true,” arguing he doesn’t think the Trump administration means to actually prevent North Korea from obtaining nuclear weapons.

“When the president says, ‘Well, I’m not worried about short-range missiles,’ he’s saying, ‘I’m not worried about the potential risk to American troops deployed in the region or our treaty allies, South Korea and Japan,'” Bolton told Swan in response to Trump saying he was not worried about short-range missile tests from North Korea.

“We’re now nearly three years into the administration with no visible progress toward getting North Korea to make the strategic decision to stop pursuing deliverable nuclear weapons,” Bolton said.

What did not come up in the interview was Trump’s impeachment. From already-recorded witness testimony, Bolton has emerged as a key figure in the president’s pressure campaign on Ukraine.

Bolton’s lawyer previously signaled that Bolton knew even more, saying Bolton was in “relevant meetings and conversations that have not yet been discussed in the testimonies thus far” in November.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/2ELsyrO