Washed-up former National Security Adviser John Bolton has called for FBI investigations into Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) after President-elect Donald Trump announced his plans to nominate them for Attorney General and Director of National Intelligence, respectively.
Bolton, who served under Trump from 2018 and 2019, voiced his displeasure with the two politicians during an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill,” stating, “I don’t think either [Gabbard] or Matt Gaetz ought to have a confirmation hearing until they have both had full-field FBI investigations.”
The former adviser stated that such investigations would send a message to China and other adversaries that the United States is “serious” about its national security.
Bolton took aim at Gabbard, accusing her of parroting Russian propaganda, a talking point favored among warmongers in the Republican and Democratic parties. “Given the Russian propaganda that she has espoused over the past period of time, I think she’s a serious threat to our national security,” he bloviated.
The mustachioed former official also went into a bizarre diatribe about the Roman Empire, working hard to make a comparison that might somehow explain why the Senate should not confirm either candidate.
“Really, my reaction was that this is like the legend of Caligula, the Roman Emperor, who wanted to nominate his horse as a Roman consul. You had to be a Roman Senator at the time to be a consul, and it was intended to show how demeaned and degraded the Roman Senate had become. So now we’re going to see whether the American Senate can stand up and reject two people who are totally unqualified, unfit professionally, and really lacking in the moral characteristics, the character that you need to hold these jobs. I think this vote should be 100 to nothing against both of them.”
I’m sure Bolton thought the analogy was clever, but it actually amounted to a word salad that could rival one delivered by Kamala Harris.
Bolton is not the only one to whine about Gabbard and Gaetz’s nominations. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) commented on Gaetz’s nomination, saying she did not “think it’s a serious nomination for the attorney general.”
The notion that Gaetz and Gabbard should be subject to an FBI investigation is ludicrous. Bolton would never call for this if it involved irrelevant neocons like himself. He literally called for the Bureau to investigate nominees simply because he does not agree with their policies and despises the president-elect who plans to nominate them. This is why people like him should never have been allowed in office in the first place.
This type of hare-brained thinking is likely the reason why most Americans would take Michael Bolton over John Bolton for any government position. The truth is that folks on both sides of the aisle do not think nearly as highly of the former adviser as he thinks of himself.
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) said Bolton is “somebody who thought he was being hired to be the commander in chief, and he wasn’t,” referencing his behavior while serving under the Trump administration.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) slammed Bolton over his laughable claims that Trump committed treason, saying it is difficult to take seriously “anyone who claims to have witnessed treason and obstruction of justice and tells about it in a book.”
Democrats aren’t too fond of Bolton either. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) said he “cares more about his book than he did public service.” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said Bolton “is obviously interested in making money, not saving the republic.”
The bottom line is that if folks like Bolton had actually done their jobs and served the American public, perhaps his ilk would still be in positions of power rather than having to rely on news outlets to provide them with a semblance of relevance.
