Mike Pompeo Calls John Bolton A ‘Traitor’ For Trump Expose Memoir

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the former national security adviser John Bolton a “traitor,” as his Trump expose memoir is about to go on sale.

Bolton’s memoir, The Room Where It Happened, due to be released on June 23, paints an unflattering picture of Trump‘s foreign policy. Bolton’s allegations come from his recollections of private conversations and Trump’s private comments. Some of the allegations from the book claim that Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping for help in the upcoming U.S. presidential elections, the president saying it would be “cool” to invade Venezuela and asking whether Finland was a part of Russia.

Pompeo criticized Bolton and his book on Twitter, calling him a “traitor” and saying by publishing the book he was “violating his sacred trust” with American people.

“I’ve not read the book, but from the excerpts I’ve seen published, John Bolton is spreading a number of lies, fully-spun half-truths, and outright falsehoods,” Pompeo said in a Twitter statement. “It is both sad and dangerous that John Bolton’s final public role is that of a traitor who damaged America by violating his sacred trust with its people.”

Trump also lashed out on Bolton over Twitter, calling him a “sick puppy” and saying his book was a “compilation of lies and made-up stories.”

Trump told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that Bolton is “a liar” and “everybody in the White House hated John Bolton.”

Trump has asked the Justice Department to file a restraining order against Bolton, blocking the release of his book on June 23. The civil lawsuit was filed Wednesday, saying the book was “rife with classified information” and was a violation of non-disclosure agreements that Bolton agreed to fulfill upon his employment at White House.

Bolton’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, released a statement, saying they went through the clearance process, on the contrary to the accusations:

“Ambassador Bolton has worked in full cooperation with the NSC in its pre-publication review to address its concerns and Simon & Schuster fully supports his First Amendment right to tell the story of his time in the White House to the American public.”

Article by Polina Kuznetsova