Former national security adviser John Bolton predicted that Russian leader Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin would “celebrate” if Donald Trump is reelected president.
Bolton, who served in the Trump administration for over a year before being forced out, responded to remarks by Putin last week where the strongman said he preferred that President Joe Biden be reelected over a Trump presidency.
Bolton said that the missive was merely disinformation by Putin and that the Kremlin actually preferred Trump.
“I think he sees things moving in his direction, and he really outdid himself in terms of disinformation a couple of days ago,” Bolton, who also served as United Nations ambassador under President George W. Bush, said Sunday on CNN’s Inside with Jen Psaki.
Specifically, Putin was asked by Russian state media who he thought was better for the Russian people, Biden or Trump.
“Biden,” Mr. Putin responded. “He is a more experienced person, he is predictable, he is a politician of the old school.”
Bolton said that the move was clearly a “disinformation effort to give Trump the opportunity — which he is foolish enough to take — to say, well, I thought that was actually a compliment to me.”
“If Trump is elected, there will be celebrations in the Kremlin. There’s no doubt about it because Putin thinks he is an easy mark,” Bolton predicted.
Bolton has been a pointed critic of Trump since leaving the White House in September 2019. In turn, Trump has repeatedly attacked Bolton.
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In his recently released book, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, Bolton says Trump should not be handed a second term in office.
“Trump is unfit to be president,” Bolton wrote in the book’s forward. “If his first four years were bad, a second four will be worse.”
