The Trump administration compiled a list of “red flags” on national security adviser John Bolton, a stash of Trump transition vetting documents reveal.
Axios’s Jonathan Swan revealed the stash of President Donald Trump’s transition vetting documents on Sunday night’s “Axios” on HBO. The documents contained descriptions of prospective Trump administration officials and noted possible “red flags” about the people, including Bolton. A source told Swan that the documents were given to the president as he interviewed candidates.
The documents contained a variety of “red flags” on Bolton, including comments made about the president’s remarks, former President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, and stories that allege Bolton berated staff members while working at the State Department.
Red flags included Bolton’s criticism of Trump remarks on NATO in July 2016, saying that these remarks encouraged Russian aggression and were “a dagger at the heart of the most successful military/political alliance in human history.”
A few of Bolton’s criticisms of President Barack Obama were also noted as red flags. (RELATED: Tucker Takes Aim At ‘Bureaucratic Tapeworm’ John Bolton For Fomenting War With Iran)
In 2012, Bolton described Obama’s foreign policy as “limp wristed,” a term typically used as a slur against gay men. The list also includes Bolton’s critique of Obama’s foreign policy at the 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference where Bolton suggested that the former president might take the Iran threat more seriously if Iran nuked Chicago.
The documents revealed two incidents in which Bolton allegedly behaved inappropriately. The documents noted that State Department officials accused Bolton in 2005 of “berating career officials and analysts who challenged his views.”
They also revealed that Bolton allegedly “threw a file folder and a tape dispenser at an American business woman in Moscow, disparaged her weight and alleged she was gay in an attempt to get her to withdraw criticism of a foreign-aid project…”
Documents also contained several incidents related to Bolton’s relationship with the UN. Senate Democrats blocked Bolton from being nominated for Ambassador to the United Nations twice in 2005. This followed Bolton’s 1997 comments that the US should “absolutely not” pay dues to the UN, that UN staff cuts have not been substantial enough, and that “virtually nothing has been done that is important” by the UN.
All of these comments were flagged in the Trump transition documents as red flags against Bolton.
Other noted red flags were that Bolton joined Freedom Capital Investment Management as a senior adviser in 2015 and that Bolton was added to the Board Of Directors off Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. in 2007.
Other notables who were similarly examined for their ‘red flags’ were Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, personal lawyer to the president Rudy Giuliani, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, and more.
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