Bolton book suggest Pompeo has dim view of Trump: reports

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo considered resigning from his post in disgust or frustration with dealing with President Trump, according to former national security advisor John Bolton’s new book.

Pompeo’s frustrations with Trump included the president’s attempt at diplomacy with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, detailed in Bolton’s upcoming book, “The Room Where It Happened,” which was obtained by The Hill ahead of its scheduled publication on June 23. 

At one point during that summit, Bolton writes that Pompeo showed him his notepad where he had written in reference to Trump, “He is so full of shit.”

Bolton also wrote in his book that Pompeo viewed Trump’s diplomacy with North Korea as having “zero probability of success.”

The book’s allegations are significant given the fact that Pompeo has long been seen as one of the president’s closest confidantes.

The contents of Bolton’s book were first reported by The New York Times and The Washington Post.

The State Department did not immediately return a request for comment. Pompeo is currently in Hawaii for a summit with the Chinese.

Trump has repeatedly praised Pompeo even while disparaging the State Department.

The Washington Post reported that Bolton wrote that Pompeo sharply criticized the president behind his back and considered resigning in “disgust or frustration.”

He wrote that Pompeo was one of a number of advisors who “hold a dim view of him [Trump] in private,” according to the Post’s account of Bolton’s book.

Bolton also described one episode in 2018 where Pompeo said he was “having a cardiac arrest in Saudi Arabia,” while participating in a phone call with Trump and South Korea’s president ahead of the Singapore summit with North Korea that year.

Bolton shared a similar view and described it as a “near death experience.”

The former national security advisor, who abruptly left the White House in September, wrote that Trump had an “inordinate interest” in Pompeo delivering an autographed copy of Elton John’s “Rocket Man” on CD to Kim during a follow up visit to North Korea.

The gift was meant to smooth over Trump’s criticism of Kim as “Little Rocket Man” in his speech at the United Nations, and instead sell it as a term of affection.

Updated: 11:23 p.m.