Getty John Bolton was fired, Trump tweeted.
John Bolton has been fired by Donald Trump, who asked for his national security advisor’s resignation. That’s according to a September 10, 2019 tweet from Trump himself.
“I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House. I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration, and therefore I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning. I thank John very much for his service. I will be naming a new National Security Advisor next week,” the president wrote on Twitter on September 10, 2019.
However, Bolton later texted Fox News to claim he “resigned.”
The two men had disagreed over various policy issues in recent months, and tensions between the two men were well-known. Disagreements in the White House sparked recently when Trump said that negotiations with the Taliban were “dead.”
Here’s the tweet:
I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House. I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration, and therefore….
Here’s a list of some of the other people Trump has fired or who resigned over recent years.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Bolton Tweeted That He Offered to Resign
GettyJohn Bolton at Trump Tower, December 2, 2016.
After the president’s tweet, John Bolton took to Twitter himself to give his version of events.
I offered to resign last night and President Trump said, “Let’s talk about it tomorrow.”
“I offered to resign last night and President Trump said, ‘Let’s talk about it tomorrow,'” he wrote. The tweet bears the stamp “WH Digital.” An hour before that tweet, Bolton wrote, “As we reflect this week on the horrific 9/11 attack, it’s important to remember how far we’ve come in combatting radical Islamist terrorist groups but also how much work is left. We stand strong against regimes that sponsor terror & encourage violence against the US & our allies.”
Three hours before, he wrote, “Now that we’re two weeks from #UNGA, you can be sure #Iran is working overtime on deception. Let’s review the greatest hits, starting with the most recent. #Iran denied the Adrian Darya-1 was headed to #Syria, then confirmed today its oil was offloaded there. #IranWebOfLies.”
On Twitter, the reaction was swift and memes and jokes flew.
VIDEO: John Bolton leaves White House
The Bolton ouster comes after a series of other firings from the former Apprentice reality star turned president.
2. Bolton Was Scheduled to Give a Briefing That Same Day
GettyJohn Bolton speaks during CPAC 2018
The announcement was so sudden that John Bolton had been scheduled to “do a WH briefing at 1:30 p.m. today…” wrote Annie Karni, White House correspondent for The New York Times.
The Bolton firing continues a revolving door of top Trump administration officials who have quit or lost their jobs. He was the president’s third national security adviser.
“He was literally announced on an updating briefing schedule in last few hours for today,” Maggie Haberman, of the New York Times, wrote on Twitter.
3. Bolton & Trump Clashed Over Policy Approach, Afghanistan & Military Action
Former Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton speaks to guests at the Iowa Freedom Summit on January 24, 2015 in Des Moines, Iowa. The summit is hosting a group of potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates to discuss core conservative principles ahead of the January 2016 Iowa Caucuses.
According to NPR, Bolton and Trump clashed over Bolton’s “aggressive positions on Venezuela, North Korea and Afghanistan” because Trump wasn’t as eager to continue or get into confrontations.
Whereas Bolton threatened leaders with military action, Trump wanted to curtail the American involvement in Afghanistan, NPR reported, adding that relations between Trump and Bolton had soured to the degree that Bolton “reportedly was excluded from meetings about the war in Afghanistan.”
The Washington Post had recently reported that Bolton was against diplomatic approaches to end the war in Afghanistan, writing that Bolton had “become a staunch internal foe of an emerging peace deal aimed at ending America’s longest war.”
4. John Bolton Is the Former Ambassador to the UN & Was the 27th Presidential National Security Adviser
Getty/GettyJohn Bolton
According to the White House, John R. Bolton “was appointed as the 27th Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs on April 9, 2018.”
Prior to his appointment, Bolton “served as a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI); of counsel at Kirkland & Ellis; a contributor to FOX News Channel and FOX Business Network; and his op-ed articles were regularly featured in major media publications,” the White House bio reads.
“Ambassador Bolton was appointed as United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations on August 1, 2005, and he served until his resignation in December 2006. Prior to that appointment, Ambassador Bolton served as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security from May 2001 to May 2005.”
The bio ticks off the many prominent positions that Bolton has held in government: “Other positions he has previously held include Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs at the Department of State, 1989-1993; Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice, 1985-1989; Assistant Administrator for Program and Policy Coordination, U.S. Agency for International Development, 1982-1983 and General Counsel, U.S. Agency for International Development, 1981-1982.”
5. John Bolton Was Born in Baltimore & Is Married
GettyBolton with Pres. George W. Bush in 2007.
John Bolton was born in Baltimore, Maryland.
“He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Yale College in 1970, and received his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1974,” the White House bio explains.
He is married. “He currently resides in Maryland with his wife, Gretchen. They have one daughter, Jennifer Sarah, who also graduated from Yale College, and received her MBA and SM degrees from MIT in 2014,” the bio explains.
READ NEXT: List of Some of the Other People Fired by President Trump.