John Bolton was disliked by his White House staff and demanded his own Air Force jet to London for President Donald Trump‘s state visit to the United Kingdom, DailyMail.com learned.
The push back against the president’s national security adviser comes after Bolton’s forthcoming memoir, ‘The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,’ was obtained by DailyMail.com and other news outlets amid a legal battle ahead with the president of its release date.
‘Bolton was just a mean, nasty human being,’ a high-ranking administration official told DailyMail.com. ‘He was broadly disliked in the building, including by many on his own staff.’
Then-National Security Adviser John Bolton demanded his own Air Force jet to London for President Donald Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom, it was claimed; Bolton is seen at 10 Downing Street during that visit with Ivanka Trump
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump with Queen Elizabeth II during a state dinner at Buckingham Palace; Bolton and many other administration aides attended as a guest
In his memoir, ‘The Room Where It Happened,’ Bolton includes a photo of himself on a government plane, surrounded by reporters. ‘Always an experience: reporters accompanying me on one of several Middle East trips on board our military aircraft, March 23, 2019,’ the caption reads
Bolton, who had reputation for being difficult before he joined President Trump’s administration, became the target of fury after his book painted the president as unprepared to sit in the Oval Office and claimed frustrated aides tried to manage the situation and threatened repeatedly to quit.
The memoir was controversial even before it hit bookshelves as the Trump administration worked furiously to block it.
The Justice Department asked a judge for an injunction to halt publication of Bolton’s memoir, which has already been printed and distributed to booksellers, claiming it contains classified information. A hearing is set for Friday. The book is due to be released on Tuesday.
Trump called Bolton a ‘liar’ and other complaints about his 17 month tenure at the White House have emerged.
Bolton, DailyMail.com was told, demanded his own Air Force plane, using a government 737 to fly to London for President Trump and first lady Melania Trump’s three-day state visit in June 2019 instead of traveling with the rest of the team on Air Force One.
It was a ‘pretty nice ride,’ an administration official said of the plane.
He also ‘stole the security detail from the staff bus so that it could escort him across London,’ an official who was on the trip recalled, leaving top administration officials like Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney stranded while Bolton got his own car and police escort to speed by them.
The trip was a treat for White House staff, several of whom were invited to a state dinner at Buckingham Palace with Queen Elizabeth II.
But the fallout from Bolton’s behavior carried over to Normandy, France, where the president and his party went after the state visit for the 75th anniversary of D-Day. There Bolton and Mulvaney got ‘into a shouting match’ over what happened in London and Mulvaney threatened to take Bolton’s travel team away from him, the person said.
Bolton left the administration a few months after that trip in September 2019.
In his memoir, Bolton writes that shortly before he left the administration, President Trump confronted him about his government travel, saying in a meeting with him: ‘You have your own airplane.’
Bolton claims he used an Air Force jet for official travel, as did other administration officials. While government planes are used for official travel it was notable Bolton flew to London on one for the state visit instead of with the president on his plane.
The Justice Department is suing John Bolton to stop publication of his memoir, which is due out on Tuesday
Additionally, in his book, he includes a photo of himself on a government plane, surrounded by reporters. ‘Always an experience: reporters accompanying me on one of several Middle East trips on board our military aircraft, March 23, 2019,’ the caption reads.
Trump, in his last conversation with Bolton, also complained he was a leaker.
‘A lot of people don’t like you. They say you’re a leaker and not a team player,’ Bolton recounts the president telling him.
Trump claims he fired Bolton. Bolton claims he quit. The former national security adviser will speak in an interview with ABC News airing Sunday and to Fox News next week.
The push back against Bolton started at the top. President Trump called him ‘a liar’ in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday night while chief of staff Mark Meadows described him as ‘self-important.’
‘He is a liar,’ Trump said.
‘Everybody in the White House hated John Bolton, that I could see,’ he noted.
Meadows chimed in that ‘Bolton is very self important. And you can quote me on that.’
‘The best way this book could be described is, “In The Room Where It Didn’t Happen.” Because nothing that he touched ever happened, because he couldn’t find consensus,’ Meadows added.
Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, John Bolton and White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway during the 75th anniversary of Normandy celebration in June 2019
Then acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, John Bolton and top Trump aide Dan Scavino are seen at the June 3, 2019 state dinner at Buckingham palace
John Bolton, White House adviser Stephen Miller and Dan Scavino at the London state dinner
Trump didn’t get into specifics about Bolton with the Journal, saying he was saving it for his own book.
‘I don’t want to say. I’ll have to say when I write my book, but nobody cares about Bolton. I would say this, look, he was somebody that wasn’t liked at all, and wasn’t respected very much. As we got to know him, he was respected less and less. Personally, I thought he was crazy,’ the president said in the lengthy interview.
And White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said the administration’s biggest accomplishments in the area of national security happened before and after Bolton’s tenure.
‘When people do tell-all books, I prefer that they tell us all what they accomplished in this position. So, I have known John for a long time, served alongside of him in the White House for all 17 months he was there,’ she told Fox News’ ‘Special Report’ on Thursday night. ‘Much of the national security accomplishments that happened – and there are many – in the Donald Trump presidency happened before he got there or after he left.’
Bolton’s book is highly critical of the president and much of the senior administration staff, including Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law who serves as a senior adviser in the West Wing.
In the book, Bolton describes every Trump decision as being guided by concerns for his own reelection, a claim that evokes the scandal that sparked Trump’s impeachment last year.
The book alleges that Trump directly tied providing military aid to Ukraine to the country’s willingness to conduct investigations into the Bidens.
In one conversation, Trump said ‘he wasn’t in favor of sending them anything until all the Russia-investigation materials related to Clinton and Biden had been turned over,’ Bolton writes.
Trump’s decision to withhold military assistance to Ukraine until it agreed to investigate Biden led the House to charge Trump was abusing his power.
The aid was ultimately released once the hold-up became public. The GOP-controlled Senate ultimately acquitted the president on that count and a count of obstructing Congress’ investigation of the incident.
Bolton was called to testify before House lawmakers conducting the impeachment inquiry, but he declined, suggesting he wanted a federal court to decide whether he should heed a White House directive not to cooperate with the inquiry.
Additionally in Bolton’s book, it’s revealed that:
- Trump agreed to ‘back off’ criminal probes as ‘personal favors’ to dictators;
- Told Chinese President Xi Jinping should go ahead with building camps the regime was constructing for Chinese Uighurs;
- Asked China for help winning a second term, saying a trade deal benefiting farmers would help him at the polls;
- Put Jared Kushner in charge of several foreign policy matters;
- Spent part of Osaka summit ‘pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win’ reelection by buying U.S. crops’;
- Believed Finland was part of Russia;
- Said invading Venezuala was ‘cool’ and said the nation was ‘really part of the United States’
- Made it a ‘high priority’ to get Mike Pompeo to hand a copy of Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’ to North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-un;
- Did not know Great Britain was a nuclear power; and
- Defended Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi to distract attention from Ivanka Trump using personal email.
The White House claims Bolton’s book contained classified information even as Bolton’s lawyers say it’s been through the proper government review process and is ready for distribution.
Trump told Sean Hannity on Fox News Wednesday night that the book contains classified information. Earlier this week Trump claimed all his conversations are classified.
‘He broke the law, very simple. I mean, as much as it’s going to be broke. This is highly classified. That’s the highest stage. It’s highly classified information and he did not have approval. That’s come out now very loud and very strong,’ Trump told Hannity.