Days before former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s new book is scheduled to be released, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani is ripping into Bolton’s character.
Bolton’s book is being billed as “the book Donald Trump doesn’t want you to read,” and is supposed to detail Trump’s “Ukraine-like transgressions” which “existed across the full range of his foreign policy.”
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Giuliani was asked about Bolton’s reported concerns over his dealings in Ukraine and effort to dig up dirt on Democrats.
Bolton reportedly called Giuliani a “hand grenade who’s going to blow everybody up.”
Giuliani responded by ripping into Bolton’s character and said he had a “desire for war” that was “sick.”
“The guy was as an atomic bomb,” Giuliani told Fox News, adding, “What I know of what he’s saying about me, he’s not telling the truth. And I think I’m in a pretty good position to prove it.”
He continued, “John Bolton and his career and the ridiculous statements that he sometimes made that we all kept our mouths shut about. And his desire for war — which is kind of sick — he’s calling me a hand grenade?”
Giuliani said he was fine with Bolton publishing accounts to him, adding, “I’m happy to respond to it because he’s a backstabber.”
“The fact is, he never came to me and gave me those concerns. If he was concerned about that, if the man were a man rather than a backstabber, he would have talked to me,” he added.
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Additionally, he accused Bolton of knowingly publishing false information and “selling out in order to sell a book.”
Giuliani’s comments come as the Trump administration is taking action to stop the release of Bolton’s book, as reported on IJR.
Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway also took aim at Bolton and said it was “remarkable to have a book be published while people are still in office,” according to the White House pool report.
And on Monday, Attorney General William Barr said the book had not completed its pre-publication review process and also called it “unprecedented” for Bolton to publish a book while Trump is office.
Trump said the decision to write the book was “highly inappropriate” and questioned the accuracy of the content of the book.
“Maybe he’s not telling the truth, he’s been known not to tell the truth, a lot,” Trump said.
The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit to block the publication of Bolton’s book.