John Bolton Slaps Down Chuck Todd’s Theory That Trump Is ‘Afraid To Make Putin Mad’

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton shot down a theory that NBC News host Chuck Todd floated during an interview Sunday regarding President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Do you think that the president is afraid to make Putin mad because maybe Putin did help him win the election and he doesn’t want to make him mad for 2020?” Todd asked Bolton during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“Honestly, I don’t think there’s evidence for that, and I think it’s a mistake on the one hand to say the Russia collusion theory was true which some opponents of Trump still can’t let go of,” Bolton replied.

Todd had asked Bolton about reports that Trump was briefed in March on intelligence that a Russian spy unit was paying bounties to the Taliban to target U. S. and Western troops stationed in Afghanistan.

The New York Times reported that the White House has not retaliated against the Russian government.

Trump denied on Twitter on Sunday that he, Vice President Mike Pence, or White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows were briefed on the intelligence. He did not address whether the intelligence is accurate. John Ratcliffe, the director of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said in a statement Saturday that Trump was not provided the information cited in the Times report.

Bolton, who left the White House in September 2019 and has written a scathing review of Trump in his forthcoming memoir, indicated he had no insight into whether the reports of Russian bounties were accurate.

Bolton criticized Trump in the interview for being defensive of ... (Read more)

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