Former National Security Advisor of the United States John Bolton appeared in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing Jan 6 hearings, during which he admitted to having "helped plan Coup d'état, not in the US, but other places".
Weighing on the possibility of former US President Donald Trump's involvement in an attempted coup against the US Congress on January 6, 2021, when Trump's supporters carried out a violent insurrection of the US capitol, John Bolton dropped a surprising comment, saying he had helped planning Coup d'état in places other than the United States.
Tapper: I don’t know if I agree with you with all due respect. One doesn’t have to be brilliant to attempt a coup
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 12, 2022
Bolton: I disagree with that as somebody who has helped plan coups, not here but other places… pic.twitter.com/jK61a0e3lV
John Bolton's remarks followed comments by CNN's Jake Tapper, who had said "One doesn’t have to be brilliant to attempt a coup", suggesting that former US President Donald Trump may have been part of a coup plot in the US, following the 2020 elections he lost.
In response, Bolton explained in disagreement that "as somebody who has helped plan coups, not here but other places. It takes a lot of work."
John Bolton, a leading Republican politician, had served as a National Security Advisor for former President Donald Trump between 2018 and 2019 before the latter fired Bolton over several disagreements in relation to Trump's foreign policy, mainly the former President's willingness to meet with the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un.
Bolton proving Jake Tapper’s point that even an idiot can attempt a coup. https://t.co/5vykV1LfFY
— Aisha Sultan (@AishaS) July 12, 2022
Bolton's significant achievement working in the Trump administration was the US decision to scrap the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action signed previously with Iran over its nuclear program.
John Bolton is widely considered one of "America's war hawks" as he long advocated for "US military action against foreign countries", including Iran, Syria, Libya, Venezuela, Cuba, Yemen, and North Korea.
Bolton was also strongly in favor of the US invasion of Iraq. In July 2021, he also argued that the United States "did not lose the war in Afghanistan", amid the second rise of the Taliban, which ended in the group's full grip of power in over Afghanistan in August 2021.
nothing clever or funny to say about this. my blood is boiling at the fact that US officials can just announce to the world they plan coups and get away with it https://t.co/7f7ugAn77i
— Timothée Inshallahmet ? (@heauxrgeoisie) July 13, 2022
The latest statements made by John Bolton during his interview with CNN retriggered many online questions over the possible countries where US foreign intervention may have attempted to oust governments, especially ones where governments and policies were harshly criticized by US politicians such as John Bolton.
In November 2018, John Bolton was the first to use the term the "troika of tyranny", referring to Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. Several months later, only in April 2019, mass protests engulfed Venezuela and the US administration at that time had expressed full support for Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López who had called on President Nicolás Maduro to leave power.
Consequently, John Bolton appeared in a press conference saying that Venezuela's "Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López, Supreme Court president Maikel Moreno, and the head of Maduro's Presidential Guard, Iván Hernández Dala had been talking with the opposition over the last three months about a peaceful transition, and had agreed that Venezuela's president Nicolás Maduro needed to go". Protests did not succeed in ending Nicolás Maduro's time in power, however.
Throughout his political career, John Bolton worked with several Republican administrations and politicians, including Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Donald Trump, and Mitt Romney.
