Bolton says Boris Johnson is ‘playing Trump like a fiddle’

Former national security adviser John Bolton claimed in a new interview that United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson has played President Trump “like a fiddle.” 

Bolton told Channel 4 News in an interview released Thursday that there was a “sea change” in the relationship between himself and the U.K. prime minister when Johnson replaced former Prime Minister Theresa May.

“The reason this is positive for Britain is that Trump can’t distinguish between his personal relationships with a counterpart leader, and the actual state of the national relationships between two countries,” Bolton said, citing Trump and Johnson’s positive relationship. 

However, Bolton denied that Johnson was “sucking up” to President Trump, adding “I’ve known Boris before he was prime minister. I think he’s got a good sense of humor, and I had the sense that behind those twinkling eyes he was playing Trump like a fiddle, too.”

Bolton also called for trade negotiations to continue between US and UK to continue and added that “I think it’s very important for both countries that Brexit succeed.” 

A round of trade talks between representatives from the U.S. and the U.K. began earlier this month, although Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told the House Ways and Means Committee that it was would be nearly impossible to move the deal through Congress before the election in November.

Bolton has raised a slate of allegations in recent weeks over the publication of his new memoir “The Room Where It Happened.” He alleges that Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping about how China could help his reelection efforts.

Bolton also calls Trump “stunningly uninformed” and claims that he committed multiple impeachable offenses. The White House attempted to block the publication of Bolton’s book

Bolton also claimed in the interview released Thursday with Channel 4 News that Trump urged him to “Go on television and say I should get the Nobel Peace Prize” and that Trump “seriously thought that he should get it.” 

Bolton also told the outlet that before joining the Trump administration, “I thought I could make a contribution. I thought I could make the overall process more regular, and that that would be helpful to the country as a whole and the philosophy, direction and security of the country that I believed in.”  

“I think a lot of other people joined the administration with that same approach, and a lot of people have left the administration realizing that we were wrong,” Bolton continued.

Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Bolton over the publication of the book. On Tuesday, the day the book was published, Trump tweeted “Washed up Creepster John Bolton is a lowlife who should be in jail, money seized, for disseminating, for profit, highly Classified information. Remember what they did to the young submarine sailor, but did nothing to Crooked Hillary. I ended up pardoning him – It wasn’t fair!”

Washed up Creepster John Bolton is a lowlife who should be in jail, money seized, for disseminating, for profit, highly Classified information. Remember what they did to the young submarine sailor, but did nothing to Crooked Hillary. I ended up pardoning him – It wasn’t fair!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 23, 2020