John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser turned foe, was told that threats of Iranian retaliation against him remained active in the days before Inauguration Day.
In a Thursday interview on CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Bolton said his Secret Service protection was renewed every six months by former President Joe Biden before it was stripped away by Trump as soon as he returned to office.
“I was told as recently as Friday and Saturday before the inauguration day that the threat level remained the same,” he said. “So if the threat level changed, I’d be delighted if that conclusion came true and the protection disappeared.”
Bolton said he was granted Secret Service protection by Biden in 2021 on fears that Iran would avenge the Trump-ordered killing of military commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020.
The protection was given to Bolton “based on a threat assessment that had nothing to do with the duration of the threat,” he said.
Trump revoked Bolton’s protection on the grounds of jeopardizing national security by publishing a memoir that detailed his time in the White House. Bolton ripped into Trump in The Room Where It Happened, earning the president’s ire.
“The book was rife with sensitive information drawn from his time in government,” Trump said in his executive order. “The memoir’s reckless treatment of sensitive information undermined the ability of future presidents to request and obtain candid advice on matters of national security from their staff.”
Bolton acknowledged that the call on his security was up to Trump but nonetheless called it “the wrong decision.”
“It’s based, I think, on the fact that he knows very well and doesn’t like that I criticize him,” he said. “It’s just that simple.”
Bolton gave Biden props for not taking away his security even when they disagreed on national security matters. He also claimed that a person in Trump’s political orbit had told him they disagreed with the president’s decision to revoke his security.
“What does that say to people in government about what can happen when a subsequent president who dislikes criticism comes into office?” Bolton asked.
