John Bolton Admits Planning Coups: 'Not Here But, You Know, Other Places'

Travis Waldron
Updated ·3 min read
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Former national security adviser John Bolton admitted to planning coups d’etat against foreign governments during a CNN appearance on Tuesday, telling host Jake Tapper that “it takes a lot of work.”

Bolton appeared on the network as part of its analysis of Tuesday’s hearing in front of the Jan. 6 House select committee, which is investigating former President Donald Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election and remain in power.

“One doesn’t have to be brilliant to attempt a coup,” Tapper said to Bolton.

“I disagree with that,” Bolton replied. “As somebody who has helped plan coups d’etat ― not here but, you know, other places ― it takes a lot of work. And that’s not what [Trump] did. It was just stumbling around from one idea to another. Ultimately, he did unleash the rioters at the Capitol. As to that, there is no doubt.”

Tapper asked Bolton which particular coups he had helped plan. The only specific example Bolton provided was the Trump administration’s efforts to support Venezuelan opposition as it tried to dislodge President Nicolas Maduro from power ― a plot Bolton noted “turned out not to be successful.”

“Not that we had all that much to do with it, but I saw what it took for an opposition to try to overturn an illegally elected president, and they failed,” Bolton said. “The notion that Donald Trump was half as competent as the Venezuelan opposition is laughable.”

“I feel like there’s other stuff you’re not telling me, though,” Tapper said.

“I’m sure there is,” Bolton replied with a chuckle.

A spokesperson for Bolton did not immediately respond to a request for comment about which coups he helped orchestrate.

Bolton served as the White House national security adviser under Trump from 2018 to 2019. But he has held various governmental positions during Republican presidencies for decades, dating back to his initial roles in the Department of Justice under Ronald Reagan.

Under Trump, the United States ― along with the European Union and numerous other countries and international organizations ― regarded Maduro’s 2018 reelection in Venezuela as fraudulent and illegitimate. The U.S. and dozens of other nations ultimately recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s legitimate president and supported the opposition’s efforts to remove Maduro from power.

Bolton was photographed during a White House press briefing holding notes that suggested the U.S. could send troops to Venezuela early in the dispute. Maduro is still in power.

The United States has explicitly or implicitly supported and aided numerous coups and other regime change plots across the world ― and has faced allegations that it has supported even more.

In 2004, while Bolton was serving in the State Department, the U.S. faced allegations of backing the overthrow of Haiti’s president. A former French ambassador told The New York Times this year that the U.S. and France had “effectively orchestrated” the coup.

Bolton has a long history of advocating for coups and supporting regime change plots. He advocated for regime change in Iraq ahead of a war he helped orchestrate and said in 2018 that the United States should overthrow the government of Iran.

“The declared policy of the United States should be the overthrow of the mullahs’ regime in Tehran,” Bolton said in a speech.

In 2007, he lamented the United States’ apparent inability to orchestrate coups during an appearance on NPR’s “The Diane Rehm Show.”

“We once had a capacity for clandestine efforts to overthrow governments,” Bolton said. “I wish we could get those back.”

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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