Free Republic

Former President Trump on Sunday said he turned down a deal to release former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who’s been detained by Moscow since 2018, in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout during his time in the White House. “I turned down a deal with Russia for a one on one swap of the so-called Merchant of Death for Paul Whelan. I wouldn’t have made the deal for a hundred people in exchange for someone that has killed untold numbers of people with his arms deals,” Trump said on Truth Social.

Thursday, FNC’s Tucker Carlson was critical of the prisoner swap between the U.S. and Russian governments that gave the United States Brittney Griner in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Carlson suggested Griner was the beneficiary because Paul Whelan, another American imprisoned in Russia, was a Trump voter. “So, at this point, we can assume the obvious,” Carlson said. “The Biden administration chose Brittney Griner over Paul Whelan. The basketball player over the Marine facing 16 years. There was only room for one in the lifeboat, and the Marine got left behind. Well, why did they make that choice?...

Former President Donald Trump shot down Russian attempts to trade former Marine Paul Whelan for “Merchant of Death” arms dealer Viktor Bout, former national security adviser John Bolton said Thursday — as Trump ripped his successor for agreeing to send Bout home in exchange for the return of WNBA star Brittney Griner. Bolton recalled in an interview with CBS that he was in the midst of his 17-month tenure at the White House when Whelan was detained on concocted espionage charges in December 2018. “The possibility of a Bout-for-Whelan trade existed back then,” said Bolton, 74, “and it wasn’t made,...

Former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton said Tuesday on “CNN This Morning” that the former president’s comments on the Constitution were a “time bomb” for every Republican. Co-host Kaitlan Collins asked, “I’ve seen your response to this, what you’ve been saying about Trump’s calls to terminate the Constitution. Do you think it should be disqualifying for a presidential candidate if they made comments like this?” Bolton said, “Well, of course, it is disqualifying. You know, the president takes an oath of office prescribed by the Constitution itself that says he will to the best of his ability preserve, protect...

Former national security adviser John Bolton said he will “seriously consider” challenging former President Trump for the GOP’s presidential nomination in 2024 if other GOP candidates don’t step in and stop him from winning again. Bolton said: “We’ve got perhaps a dozen or more potential presidential candidates looking to 2024. I think every one of them, before they declare their candidacy, should say, ‘Donald Trump was wrong. We repudiate him. He doesn’t belong in the Republican Party.’ “And, honestly, if they don’t, there’s one thing that would get me to get into the presidential race, which I looked at in...

Donald Trump could face a challenge for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination from his own former national security adviser John Bolton, who condemned the ex-president’s call to “terminate” the Constitution on Monday. Bolton said he would “absolutely” consider jumping into the presidential race to prevent Trump from winning the GOP nomination during an appearance on NBC News. He said his potential run would be motivated by Trump’s widely condemned remarks on the U.S. Constitution last week. Trump sparked backlash Friday night when he wrote a Truth Social post ranting about alleged “Massive Fraud” from the Democratic Party he believes was...

Mr. Bolton, who has long had a contentious relationship with Mr. Trump since leaving his position, said too many people have turned the former president “off in their brain.”“Even if they loved his style, loved his approach, loved his policies, loved everything about him, they don’t want to lose and the fear is, given the results on [Nov. 8], that if he got the nomination, not only would he lose the general election, but he would take an awful lot of Republican candidates down with him,” Mr. Bolton told The Guardian.Mr. Bolton has his own PAC and super PAC where...

Former national security adviser John Bolton thinks President Biden "overstated the gravity of the situation we're in right now" when he suggested that the "prospect of Armageddon" is the highest it's been since the Cuban Missile Crisis. Bolton offered his observation in an interview Friday with CBS News senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge. .... Bolton said nuclear threats must be taken seriously, but he doesn't think the world is in quite the situation the president described. .... "Well, you know, [Putin's the the center of command and control of the Russian military," Bolton said. "National Command authority is what we...

Former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton said Tuesday on CNN’s “New Day” that Attorney General Merrick Garland is like a “lamb” who is being politically “slaughtered” by former President Donald Trump.

Donald Trump's former national security advisor John Bolton accused the ex-president of lying when he claimed Friday to have a 'standing order' that all documents taken from the White House while he was in office were to be declassified. Bolton said the claim was 'almost certainly a lie' in a New York Times piece published on Sunday. 'When somebody begins to concoct lies like this, it shows a real level of desperation,' he said.

Newsmax host Eric Bolling and former National Security Advisor John Bolton had a blowout over Donald Trump’s foreign policy on Thursday. Bolling brought up remarks Bolton made in an interview with ABC News back in 2020 after he left the Trump White House. “I think we’re in a weaker position around the world,” Bolton said of Trump’s foreign policy at the time. “I think we have given up leadership in a wide variety of areas. Bolling confronted Bolton and juxtaposed U.S. standing in the world then under Trump with the country now under President Joe Biden. “Ambassador, under Biden, we...

The Justice Department has charged a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, accusing the man of attempting to pay individuals $300,000 to kill Bolton in D.C. or Maryland. The suspect, Shahram Poursafi, 45, remains at large abroad, the Justice Department said. If found and convicted, he would face up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000 for the use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, and up to 15 years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to...

A former Trump administration official's claim that he orchestrated government overthrows abroad is making waves in Venezuela. Venezuela's National Assembly voted on Thursday to condemn the comments by former US National Security Advisor John Bolton. Its leader Jorge Rodriguez described the apparent admission as "an extraordinary feat of brazenness." In an interview on Wednesday, Bolton told CNN's Jake Tapper that he had "helped plan coups d'etat -- not here, but, you know, other places." He was the Trump's White House point person in dealing with Venezuela's 2019 constitutional crisis, which saw a group of opposition politicians attempt to restore democracy...

CNN: “One doesn’t have to be brilliant to attempt a coup”BOLTON: “I disagree with that. As somebody who has helped plan coups, not here but other places…”

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton admits to orchestrating coups. (2022) Clip... [1 min]

Pence is far from the only prospective candidate signaling interest in a potential White House campaign. Haley is slated to return to Iowa this summer to attend the Dubuque Regional Reception hosted by the state GOP, putting her back in the crucial first-in-the-nation caucus state. Pompeo, meanwhile, is set to release a new book this fall detailing his tenure in the Trump administration. He also recently suggested in an interview with Fox News that his future political ambitions — including a possible presidential run — aren’t contingent on what Trump ultimately decides to do in 2024. “The Pompeos have always...

Former President Donald Trump would not be "capable" of holding peace talks in Moscow between Ukraine and Russia to stop the ongoing war, said John Bolton on Saturday. Bolton, who served as Trump's national security adviser from 2018 to 2019, said that such statesmanship would be out of Trump's character. "He's not capable of it," Bolton told The Palm Beach Post. "This would require thinking through a policy and considering the pluses and minuses, the risks and costs involved. That's just not what he does." Last Saturday, Trump said his personality kept the US out of war and added that...

In 2 recent tweets I pointed out Farnaz Fassihi’s pro-Islamic Republic (#IRI) bias & factual error. In response she simply blocked me!It’s disappointing that a @nytimes journalist displays this level of intolerance of dissent & criticism. pic.twitter.com/y7YEXWKB9b— Kamran Matin (@KamranMatin) January 7, 2020NY Times writer accused of Iran bias in Twitter uprising by John Ransom on April 13, 2021 The New York Times is facing an uprising of Iranian English speakers on Twitter who claim that Times journalist Farnaz Fassihi, who styles herself as an expert on the Middle East and Iran, is just a propaganda agent for the Islamic...

On Sunday’s broadcast of FNC’s “Life, Liberty & Levin,” conservative talker Mark Levin blasted the Biden administration for its response to a situation in Ukraine that is spiraling out of control by the day while seemingly enabling Iran to achieve its nuclear ambitions. Levin said the status quo made him miss the days of former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. Trump, according to Levin, looked to be a foreign policy genius based on the present situation. Transcript as follows: [cut] You know what, ladies and gentlemen, I really do miss the Reagan days and the Trump days. We never...

Biden gives Putin a win with his indefensible decision to deny Ukraine fighter jets By John Bolton – NY Post On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the war with Russia was at a “strategic turning point.” Unfortunately, America and NATO may have missed it. President Joe Biden’s decision to reject transferring Polish MiG fighter jets to Ukraine is inexplicable and indefensible. Kyiv’s heroic resistance to unprovoked aggression has exceeded pre-war expectations, both NATO’s and Russia’s. Innumerable Russian mistakes and failures, from strategy down to basic logistics, have been equally startling. The Kremlin has not achieved key objectives, its advances...