Former United Nations ambassador John Bolton will announce Thursday whether or not he will enter the race for the White House, The Daily Caller has learned.
Bolton plans to make the announcement online at noon, an aide said. The Republican also plans to hold a conference call with the media and release an op-ed about his decision.
In recent months, Bolton has traveled to early caucus and primary states. His political action committees — including the John Bolton PAC and John Bolton Super PAC — have also been active in recent elections, raising over $7.5 million in the 2014 cycle and contributing $470,000 to Republican candidates in races across the country.
“Over the past months Bolton has spoken with voters in Des Moines, Columbia, Greenville, Nashua, Manchester, and great cities across America,” the aide said. “Just last week, Bolton spoke at the South Carolina Freedom Summit, and today he is in Iowa meeting with key stakeholders. It’s become clear that voters understand the most important challenge facing our next president is keeping America safe, and national security is now a top issue in most polls.”
Should he run, Bolton is expected to use the campaign to contrast his more hawkish foreign policy with the more libertarian-leaning views of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. Bolton, who likes to mention that he attended Yale Law School at the same time as the Clintons, would likely also be an aggressive critic of Hillary Clinton’s time as secretary of state.
“Obviously, if the Democrats nominate Hillary,” Bolton told TheDC in an interview last year, “her principle ‘qualification’ is her time as secretary of state. So being able to dissect and explain to the voters why she fails as a leader, I think is going to be critical for whomever is interested in the Republican nomination.”
Bolton served as the country’s ambassador to the United Nations under George W. Bush, who appointed the lawyer to the position as a recess appointee from August 2005 to December 2006.
Bolton flirted with running for president in 2012, but ultimately decided against a run.
Should he run, Bolton would be viewed a long-shot candidate, but he could use a campaign to emphasize his views on foreign policy and national security. Some also think Bolton, who Newt Gingrich in 2012 said would be his secretary of state, could also be angling for a top position in the next Republican administration.