After hyping John Bolton’s anti-Trump book endlessly on ABC, the news network brought Bolton on Monday’s Good Morning America to grill him...from the left. Anchor George Stephanopoulos spent a good deal of the interview badgering the former National Security Advisor to switch parties and support Democrats’ never-ending impeachment efforts.
Right before this, congressional correspondent Mary Bruce hyped Adam Schiff suggesting Democrats might subpoena Bolton to testify on the contents of his book. When Bolton appeared, Stephanopoulos cut straight to the chase: “Let's pick up where Mary just left off right there. If Democrats subpoena you, will you testify?” he asked.
The former National Security Advisor irritated Stephanopoulos by complaining House Democrats had shot themselves in the foot with their partisan impeachment process and reiterated he thought the best way to get Trump out of office, was by voting him out in November:
“I think one of the mistakes the Democrats made and they made plenty is the idea that everything is resolved through the impeachment process and they mishandled it badly. I called it impeachment malpractice in the book,” Bolton said.
Stephanopoulos tried again: “But you also said that a Senator John Bolton would probably have voted to convict President Trump,” he pointed out.
Bolton reiterated that he would’ve supported a “reasoned, non-partisan” impeachment effort but “the Democrats made a conscious decision at the beginning of the Ukraine impeachment effort to push Republicans aside.”
With two questions turning into anti-Democrat answers, Stephanopoulos turned the tables and touted Democrat concerns Bolton was putting his own book’s profits above their “patriotic” attempt to impeach Trump:
Well, the Democrats say about you that you -- your core charge against President Trump -- he put his personal interests consistently over the national interest. They say that's exactly what you've done. Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff say you were choosing greed and loyalty over patriotism.
After Bolton defended himself as a life-long conservative, Stephanopoulos finally gave up on the impeachment questions and moved on to the election.
He complained to Bolton, “But you're not going to vote for President Trump.” Bolton confirmed he was voting for neither GOP/Democrat candidate, but Stephanopoulos hounded him with an old quote about the 2016 election to insist he needs to vote for Biden in 2020:
... Let me press you on that because back in 2016 you called the election a binary choice and said is it basically any vote that is not for Donald Trump is a vote for Hillary Clinton. So isn't any vote by that logic, any vote that is not for Joe Biden in 2020, a vote for Donald Trump?
... But If you write in a conservative isn't that a vote for Donald Trump effectively?
Bolton told Stephanopoulos the bad news: “I want to make it clear I'm not switching to the democratic party.”
After another unsuccessful attempt, Stephanopoulos shifted gears to pretend he was Adam Schiff building his impeachment case against President Trump. The ABC anchor asked Bolton to confirm Trump quotes from his own book, where the president said he wanted China’s help to win the election. Then Stephanopoulos boasted that Bolton had “confirmed” the Democrats’ impeachment case against Trump, asking Ukraine to investigate his political opponents, before getting him to trash Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and a federal judge who allowed his book to be published but gave a scathing warning that he had “gambled” with our national security.
You can read a transcript, below:
ABC's Good Morning America
6/22/2020
MARY BRUCE: And now some Democrats say they will investigate any further allegations of wrongdoing raised in this book. Democratic chairman Adam Schiff who led the impeachment trial says the public needs to know exactly what they have in this president. George.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Mary Bruce, thanks very much. John Bolton joins us now. Mr. Bolton, thank you for joining us this morning. Let's pick up where Mary just left off right there. If Democrats subpoena you, will you testify?
JOHN BOLTON: Let's see what they decide to do. Look, let's be clear, the primary way that we rein presidents in is not through impeachment, it's through elections and presidential behavior can be reckless, reprehensible, dangerous, doesn't necessarily make it impeachable. I think one of the mistakes the Democrats made and they made plenty is the idea that everything is resolved through the impeachment process and they mishandled it badly. I called it impeachment malpractice in the book. And, you know, what they do next obviously is up to them.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But you also said that a senator John Bolton would probably have voted to convict President Trump.
BOLTON: Well, I don't -- look, I still don't know all the information about Ukraine or many of these other things, but my point is that the Democrats made a conscious decision at the beginning of the Ukraine impeachment effort to push Republicans aside. I think there were a lot of Republicans in the House that might have been open to a more reasoned nonpartisan effort much like thinking back to Watergate days what Sam Irvin and Howard Baker did, the Democrats rejected that entirely, they made it a partisan fight in the House. That guaranteed it would be a partisan fight in the Senate and they lost. That's not a very good strategy.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, the Democrats say about you that you -- your core charge against President Trump -- he put his personal interests consistently over the national interest. They say that's exactly what you've done. Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff say you were choosing greed and loyalty over patriotism.
BOLTON: Look what I have chosen is philosophy. I've been a conservative Republican since I was 15 years old and handed out leaflets and rang doorbells for Barry Goldwater in 1964. I've been motivated throughout my government experience to try and advance conservative philosophy and I think one of the most important things I learned in watching Donald Trump up close is he doesn't have any philosophy. He doesn't proceed on that basis or on the basis of a grand strategy or policy. It's all about Donald Trump and that to me is a lesson for Americans as a whole but particularly for conservative Republicans, because if Trump wins re-election, which is entirely possible, there's no more guardrail based on what the Republican party may think about him. So people need to understand that and I hope if they read the book they can make up their own minds.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But you're not going to vote for President Trump.
BOLTON: No, that's right. I will write in a conservative Republican. I haven't decide who yet but that's my --
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me press you on that because back in 2016 you called the election a binary choice and said is it basically any vote that is not for Donald Trump is a vote for Hillary Clinton. So isn't any vote by that logic, any vote that is not for Joe Biden in 2020, a vote for Donald Trump?
BOLTON: Well, you have accurately characterized what I said in 2016. That was my -- that was my view at the time. No doubt about it. But having watched Donald Trump for 17 months, I cannot in good conscience vote for him and I think there are a lot of other Republicans who feel the same way. This is not a happy election for conservatives in my view.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But If you write in a conservative isn't that a vote for Donald Trump effectively?
BOLTON: Well, not in Maryland where I live. I think the democratic nominee will carry Maryland without much trouble but I want to make it clear I'm not switching to the democratic party. I'm still a rock rib conservative Republican and in the discussion that will come after the November election within the Republican party and it will come whether Trump wins or loses, we have to talk about what the post-Trump party looks like and I think it's important to set the stage for that conversation which is in part what I've tried to do in the book.
