John Bolton fires back at Donald Trump, hints at his next big move
Even as Republican Senators have continued to go back and forth today about whether to call John Bolton to testify in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, Trump has resorted to making threats against Bolton if he dares to release his new book. Trump’s threats are little more than “don’t do it or else,” as he has no pathway for blocking or even delaying Bolton’s book. But the whole thing seems to have fired Bolton up.
Various observers on Twitter have noticed that John Bolton has suddenly “liked” two recent tweets from other people, which is a big deal because it’s not something Bolton does often. The first tweet simply mocked Donald Trump for his meltdown this morning about how he regretted hiring Bolton: “mister president sir, you should fire the moron who hired John Bolton. he’s the real idiot.” The second tweet was much more telling about what might happen next.
Yesterday Palmer Report pointed out that even if the GOP Senate doesn’t call Bolton to testify, the House can easily announce a public hearing and let Bolton testify. Short of that, we explained that Bolton can simply go on television and give his testimony to a TV news host. So it’s notable that Bolton has now “liked” this tweet: “Dear @AmbJohnBolton, I implore you. Go on @seanhannity. Tell the absolute truth. Let the chips fall. You would make TV and American History. Sir, respectfully, do it.”
In other words, John Bolton is all but saying that if he’s not allowed to formally testify in Congress, he’ll simply go on television and give his testimony that way. We don’t see him appearing on Hannity; why go up against a host who’s going to spend the entire time shouting phony pro-Trump conspiracy theories? If Bolton wants to go on Fox News to reach a conservative audience, he’ll surely choose Chris Wallace. Or he could just go on CNN to be more neutral. But it’s clear Bolton is planning to speak publicly, by whatever means necessary.
