Former White House national security adviser John Bolton floated a 2024 presidential bid on Monday, saying he is “prepared” to get into the race if other potential Republican candidates do not “repudiate” former President Trump.
“When you challenge the Constitution itself, that is un-American,” Bolton tweeted Monday. “If the current GOP presidential candidates don’t repudiate Trump, I’m prepared to get in the race.”
Trump’s comments came after Elon Musk released the “Twitter Files,” which showed internal communications about the censorship of the New York Post’s story October 2020 story about Hunter Biden’s personal laptop.
Bolton said he was “absolutely” considering a presidential run due to the lack of condemnation from other Republicans mulling their own presidential bids.
“I think to be a presidential candidate you can’t simply say, ‘I support the Constitution.’ You have to say, ‘I would oppose people who would undercut it,’” Bolton said. “When you challenge the Constitution itself the way Trump has done, that is un-American.”
Former President Trump on Monday insisted he does not want to “terminate” the Constitution, responding to media backlash after making a point over the weekend that its rules and laws should be disregarded due to fraud committed so he can return to the White House.
“The Fake News is actually trying to convince the American People that I said I wanted to ‘terminate’ the Constitution. This is simply more DISINFORMATION & LIES, just like RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, and all of their other HOAXES & SCAMS,” Trump wrote Monday afternoon, saying he meant that “steps must be immediately taken to RIGHT THE WRONG.”
Bolton, however, either didn’t get the memo that Trump has already debunked the fake news claims, or he doesn’t care and is using the situation to capitalize on a decision he may have already made weeks or perhaps even months ago.
“If I don’t see it, then I’m going to seriously consider getting in,” he said, adding that the window for his decision-making will be “pretty short.”
“We’ve already got one declared candidate in the Republican Party who doesn’t believe in the Constitution,” Bolton said. “This is serious business.”
Bolton resigned from the Trump administration in September 2019. He became Trump’s third national security adviser in April 2018, replacing H.R. McMaster, who had been appointed earlier in the administration to replace Michael Flynn, according to Fox News.
Before serving in the Trump administration, Bolton worked in the administrations of former Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush and served as a Bush lawyer during the 2000 Florida recount. Bolton also served as a U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006 and as an undersecretary of state for arms control and international security from 2001 to 2005.
