At 11:58 a.m. on Tuesday, Trump tweeted “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…” Second tweet: “….I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning. I thank John very much for his service. I will be naming a new National Security Advisor next week.”
Bolton tweeted in response: “I offered to resign last night and President Trump said, ‘Let’s talk about it tomorrow.'” He also texted Fox News’ Brian Killmeade, mid-segment, to dispute the president’s account. (“Let’s be clear: I resigned,” Bolton texted, per Kilmeade.)
According to LA Times reporter Eli Stokols, less than an hour before the tweet, the White House informed the press corps that Bolton would be briefing them, along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Steven Mnuchin, at 1:30 p.m.
Bolton is the third national security advisor to depart the Trump administration. According to emerging reports, the pair’s falling out stemmed from Trump’s interest in hosting the Taliban for peace talks at Camp David. (The president tweeted that he invited a delegation from Afghanistan, then rescinded the invitation; he’s since declared the talks “dead.”)
Before joining the Trump administration, Bolton was the secretary of state and UN ambassador during President George W. Bush’s administration. He was a leading proponent of the invasion of Iraq.
