After his home was raided by the FBI last week, former national security advisor John Bolton unleashed a blistering critique of President Donald Trump’s Ukraine policy, claiming it is marked by ‘confusion, haste and disarray.’
‘Collapsing in confusion, haste, and the absence of any discernible meeting of the minds among Ukraine, Russia, several European countries, and America, Trump’s negotiations may be in their last throes, along with his Nobel Peace Prize campaign,’ Bolton wrote in an op-ed published days after federal agents carried out search warrants on his home and office.
Bolton said Trump’s attempt to fast-track a peace deal was ‘inevitably’ doomed, arguing the Alaska summit with Putin on Aug. 15 was arranged at a pace ‘almost surely unprecedented in modern history.’
He blasted Trump’s abrupt reversal after the meeting — backing off new sanctions on Moscow and scrapping demands for a ceasefire in favor of a ‘final agreement’ — as proof of chaotic diplomacy.
The former U.N. ambassador also pointed to contradictions inside the administration, noting Trump told Ukraine it must strike inside Russia even as the Pentagon blocked Kyiv from doing so. The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday the Pentagon had been blocking long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMs, from reaching Ukraine.
Meanwhile, allies such as India, Bolton wrote, were left ‘hanging out to dry’ under new 50% U.S. tariffs while Russia and China skated free.
‘His efforts over the last two-plus weeks may have left us further from peace and a just settlement for Ukraine than before,’ Bolton concluded.
Bolton even went after Trump for releasing a photo of himself pointing his finger at Putin’s chest, drawing comparisons to then-Vice President Richard Nixon’s finger-pointing during the famous kitchen debate with former Soviet Union prime minister Nikita Khrushchev.
‘Why Trump wants to be compared to the only president who resigned in disgrace is unclear.’
Bolton was Trump’s national security advisor in 2018 and 2019, until the pair fell out.
The FBI raid is reportedly linked to a probe of mishandling classified documents.