Former National Security Advisor John Bolton went off on President Donald Trump’s friend and special envoy as “a disaster in the making” who “doesn’t know anything” about the things he is in charge of. Steve Witkoff is the primary negotiator tasked with trying to bring an end to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as engaging with Iran on terminating its nuclear program. He traveled to Moscow this week to have talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin the same week Trump jettisoned National Security Advisor Mike Waltz in favor of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will wear both hats, at least temporarily.
On Friday, Bolton, who held both of those positions, joined CNN’s The Arena, where Kasie Hunt asked about Witkoff’s prominent role. “What is your understanding of how the Secretary of State Marco Rubio is interacting with Steve Witkoff?” she said. “It’s been Witkoff flying to Moscow and talking to Vladimir Putin.
I’m curious, [what’s] your sense of watching it and talking as I know you do to many in the national security establishment about who’s really in charge here?” Bolton replied: Well, I don’t think it’s Marco Rubio. If I were in his shoes, I’d be extraordinarily frustrated. I think Witkoff reports directly to Trump.
That’s the advantage he has. He will do exactly what Trump says. And I think this is a disaster in the making, a disaster on the Ukraine-Russia front, a potential disaster on the Iran front.
I mean, if you look at Witkoff, he doesn’t know anything about Ukraine. He doesn’t know anything about Russia. He doesn’t know anything about Iran.
He doesn’t know anything about nuclear weapons. He doesn’t know anything about arms control and nonproliferation. And he doesn’t know anything about state-to-state negotiation.
Bolton, who served as national security advisor in Trump’s first term, expressed disbelief at how Witkoff, a billionaire real estate developer, had come into such an influential role in the administration. “It’s hard to imagine a less qualified person,” he continued. “And yet he is Trump’s personal envoy.
I just think this is a huge risk.” Watch above via CNN.
