Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani called former National Security Advisor John Bolton “a total backstabber” who lacks character for writing a tell-all book.
“He’s a total backstabber. I’ve known him for 10 years. He says all kinds of things about me in that book. He never was man enough to ever come up to me and raise that with me when we were in the administration, when I was representing [President Donald Trump],” Giuliani said Thursday on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria.”
The Trump administration sued John Bolton Tuesday in an effort to delay the book’s release, with the Justice Department saying in its complaint that “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,” contains an abundance of classified information. (RELATED: ‘The Book Donald Trump Doesn’t Want You To Read’: John Bolton’s Memoir Contains New Trump Allegations)
“If he had a problem with my representation of the president or of a legal problem that the president had, as the president’s lawyer and as his friend for 10 years, you think he’d have been man enough to come and tell me? Well, he wrote that in order to sell books,” Giuliani said.
The book reportedly accuses Trump of a committing a series of “Ukraine-like transgressions” during his presidency. Giuliani maintained that the book is inaccurate — especially with regards to his effect on foreign policy.
Former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton appears at the Center for Strategic and International Studies before delivering remarks Sept. 30, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
“I mean, he calls me a hand grenade. I kind of feel really, really complimented by that, because he’s a hydrogen bomb. I mean, the statements this guy has made over 10 years and he’s calling me a hand grenade?” (RELATED: John Kelly Says He Believes John Bolton)
The former mayor quipped that Bolton was never welcome in any presidential cabinet because of his hawkish positions and the fear that “he could be taking us to war, you know, over Central Park or something.”
“Bad guy. No character.”
Bolton also claimed in his book that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney orchestrated leaks to the press and that President Donald Trump petitioned China for help in the 2020 election.