Former US Official John Bolton Admits He 'Helped Plan Coups' outside of America
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Former US national security adviser John Bolton admitted on television on Tuesday that he has helped plan coups in other countries, while arguing that the Jan 6, 2021 riot in Washington fell short of such efforts.
The attack on the US Capitol was the result of then-president Donald Trump "just stumbling around from one idea to another", Bolton told CNN.
"As somebody who has helped plan coups d'etat, not here, but, you know, other places, it takes a lot of work," he said, AFP reported.
Bolton - who served as Trump's national security adviser from 2018 to 2019 - did not specify which governments he had helped to overthrow, but while in his post, he advocated for US military intervention in Venezuela.
The Jan 6 incident was "not an attack on our democracy. It's Donald Trump looking out for Donald Trump. It's a once in a lifetime occurrence", said Bolton.
"Ultimately, he did unleash the rioters at the Capitol. As to that, there's no doubt. But not to overthrow the Constitution; to buy more time, to throw the matter back to the states, to try and redo the issue," he added.
An unabashed hawk, Bolton served in the US Departments of Justice and State during three Republican administrations, starting with Ronald Reagan's in the 1980s.
He served as the US ambassador to the United Nations under former president George W. Bush, and for decades has been recognizable by his large white moustache.
Bolton unrepentantly pushed for the US invasion of Iraq and has voiced support for bombing Iran and North Korea - an interventionist approach to foreign policy that put him at odds with Trump, who fired him in 2019.
Bolton's comments on the Jan 6 riots came as a congressional committee works to determine whether Trump or his associates had a role in planning or encouraging the violent insurrection that left at least five people dead and 140 police officers injured.
On Tuesday, lawmakers said a Twitter post by Trump promising a "wild" Jan 6 rally was seen as a "call to arms" by members of right-wing militia groups and other supporters of the president who went on to assault the US Capitol.