Former US national security advisor admits to helping foreign coups
Former White House national security advisor John Bolton, casually admitted on Tuesday that he had meddled in attempted coups in foreign countries.
“It takes a lot of work” to overthrow a foreign government and seize power, Bolton declared.
John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, admits to helping plan coups in other countries while debating CNN’s @jaketapper about Trump's capability to plan a coup on January 6. https://t.co/V9NnWQHH7h
— CNN (@CNN) July 12, 2022
After the day's congressional hearing into the attack on the US Capitol, Bolton appeared on CNN to discuss former US President Trump’s role in the attack.
When arguing against Trump’s competence to pull off a coup d'etat, he declared: "As somebody who has helped plan coups d'etat - not here but you know (in) other places - it takes a lot of work. And that's not what he (Trump) did."
CNN anchor asked Bolton which attempts he was referring to.
"I'm not going to get into the specifics," Bolton said, before mentioning Venezuela. "It turned out not to be successful. Not that we had all that much to do with it but I saw what it took for an opposition to try and overturn an illegally elected president and they failed," he said.
Washington's history of interventions in other countries has been criticized by many foreign policy experts but it is highly unusual for US officials to openly acknowledge their role in stoking unrest in foreign countries.