Trump says Bolton would have started 'World War Six' if he had not been ejected from White House

AFP via Getty Images
AFP via Getty Images

Donald Trump has slammed John Bolton as Democrats call for him to testify in the president’s impeachment, claiming he would have helped start four World Wars had he not been removed from his post.

“Frankly, if I had listened to him, we would be in World War Six by now,” Mr Trump wrote in a series of scathing tweets.

The president also decried Democrats’ attempts to get his former national security adviser — who was ousted in September of last year — to deliver testimony, following a leaked manuscript of Mr Bolton’s upcoming book.

“No matter how many witnesses you give the Democrats, no matter how much information is given, like the quickly produced Transcripts, it will NEVER be enough for them,” Mr Trump wrote on Tuesday night, later retweeting himself and a second tweet that derided Mr Bolton’s claims.

“Why didn’t John Bolton complain about this ‘nonsense’ a long time ago,” he added, “when he was very publicly terminated. He said, not that it matters, NOTHING!”

The manuscript reportedly revealed Mr Trump demanding political investigations from Ukraine into one of his 2020 political rivals, Joe Biden, while discussing withholding of crucial military aid to the country in conversations with his former adviser.

After it was reported earlier this week, Mr Bolton’s new book revelations added fuel to Senate Democrats’ demands for witnesses in the impeachment trial against the president.

Mr Trump sought to remind his supporters on Wednesday morning that Mr Bolton was apparently bad news, despite appointing him to a prominent role on the national security team in March 2018.

In a long-running sentence, the president attacked Mr Bolton for not being able to “get approved for the Ambassador to the UN years ago” and having allegedly “begged” for a non-Senate approved position.

He went on to list “many more mistakes” made by Mr Bolton, including mocking him over when he “mistakenly says ‘Libyan Model’ on T.V”.

Mr Trump then slammed Mr Bolton for going out “IMMEDIATELY” and writing “a nasty [and] untrue book.”

“All Classified National Security,” he added. “Who would do this?”

Meanwhile, it remains unclear how the new revelations from Mr Bolton’s manuscript will impact Republican senators in their vote on whether to support adding witnesses to the impeachment trial.

That vote — which could arrive as early as Friday or Saturday afternoon — would require four Republicans to join the entirety of the Democrats in the Senate in demanding witnesses.