John Bolton National Security Advisor to the United States during a visit to Kyiv, Ukraine. 24-08-2018
On Monday, President Donald Trump revoked former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s Secret Service protection following his inauguration as the 47th president. During an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Bolton was dissatisfied with the move.
“Well I’ve had better days that’s for sure and this is uh… I think uh… typical of Trump the man. This is this is the kind of character or or lack thereof who’s now president,” Bolton said.
Bolton, who served as National Security Advisor under Trump before leaving the administration in 2019, went on to explain why he had previously been granted protection.
“You know when President Biden… recognizing the threat against me and and and several other current and former U.S. government officials authorized the Secret Service to restore protection, which I had had when I was National Security Advisor… I’m sure he probably wasn’t the happiest man in the world because of the criticisms that I’ve made of him on his foreign policy,” Bolton said.
“But he did it because it’s simply not permissible to allow a rogue state like the terrorist in Iran to threaten Americans, whether they’re in government or not, simply for expressing opinions or in the case of the government, employees doing their job,” he continued.
“Trump has decided to reverse it. It’s obviously within his power to do it. But I think this is a matter that people should take seriously and let us contemplate who made the right decision here, President Biden or President Trump.”
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The revocation of Bolton’s security detail follows years of public tension between the former advisor and Trump, with Bolton frequently criticizing the former and current president’s foreign policy decisions. Under President Trump, Bolton was known for his hawkish stances on countries like Iran and North Korea.
When asked by journalists on Tuesday about his decision to revoke Bolton’s security clearance, Trump explained, “Because I think that was enough time.”
He added, “We’re not going to have security on people for the rest of their lives. Why should we?”
“I am disappointed but not surprised that President Trump has decided to terminate the protection previously provided by the United States Secret Service,” Bolton said in a statement Tuesday. “Notwithstanding my criticisms of President Biden’s national-security policies, he nonetheless made the decision to extend that protection to me in 2021.”
Bolton has served in various government roles, most notably as the U.S. National Security Advisor under President Trump from 2018 to 2019. He previously served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2006.
However, his tenure in the Trump administration ended on a contentious note, with disagreements over foreign policy strategies leading to his departure. After leaving the White House, Bolton published a book titled The Room Where It Happened, which provided a critical insider account of the Trump administration’s foreign policy decision-making.
In August 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Shahram Poursafi, a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), with plotting to assassinate Bolton. This plot was believed to be retaliation for the U.S. airstrike that killed IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani in January 2020.