President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani had some harsh words for former National Security Advisor John Bolton.
In an interview with CBS’s Catherine Herridge, Giuliani dismissed reporting that Trump told Bolton that military aid to Ukraine was contingent on officials in that country opening an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
“He never said to me, ‘I’ve got a problem with what you are doing in Ukraine.’ Never once. Never winked. Never sent me a little note. He is a personal friend, I thought. So here’s the only conclusion I can come to, and it’s a harsh one. And I feel very bad about it. He’s a backstabber.”
Watch the interview below:
NEW: President Trump's personal attorney @RudyGiuliani called John Bolton a "backstabber" and told @CBS_Herridge he doesn't think the former national security adviser should testify in the Senate impeachment trial.
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) January 28, 2020
More on @CBSThisMorning Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/TR1vCveIOQ
Herridge pressed Giuliani on his conclusion, “That’s a serious…”
“It’s not serious, it’s true,” Giuliani interjected. “If your friend was complaining about you behind your back, and didn’t have the guts to come up to your face and tell you, ‘I think you’re screwin’ up Catherine,’ that’d be a backstabber. That’s classic backstabber.”
Bolton reportedly had an issue with Giuliani’s campaign to dig up dirt on Democrats. During the House’s impeachment proceedings, Fiona Hill — a former member of the National Security Council (NSC)— testified that Bolton called Giuliani a “human hand grenade who’s going to blow everybody up,” and told her to alert the NSC’s top lawyer to Giuliani’s dealings.
Giuliani’s comments come after The New York Times reported that a draft manuscript of Bolton’s forthcoming book says Trump linked the aid to Ukraine to the investigation of the Bidens, as IJR previously reported.Â
After the Times published its report on Sunday, Trump denied Bolton’s claim, “I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens.”
Trump claimed that Bolton never “complained” about the military aid to Ukraine and suggested that Bolton made the allegations to fuel book sales.
I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens. In fact, he never complained about this at the time of his very public termination. If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book. With that being said, the…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2020
On Wednesday, Trump shredded Bolton’s character on Twitter and suggested that if he listened to Bolton’s advice “we would be in World War Six.”
….many more mistakes of judgement, gets fired because frankly, if I listened to him, we would be in World War Six by now, and goes out and IMMEDIATELY writes a nasty & untrue book. All Classified National Security. Who would do this?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2020
The Times’ report has fueled calls for Bolton to testify in the Senate’s impeachment trial, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) recently said he does not have the votes to block witnesses.
The vote on whether or not to call new witnesses is expected on Friday, according to people familiar. If senators vote to subpoena Bolton it would extend the trial at a time even some Democratic presidential contenders are reportedly signaling they would like to end the trial, as IJR reported.
