John Bolton: We’re Seeing a President Driven by ‘Not U.S. National Security Interest’ But ‘Fascination’ of a Nobel Peace Prize

EXCERPT:

BOLTON: “I think what we‘re seeing here is a president driven by not U.S. national security interests, but his fascination with getting a Nobel Peace Prize. And he thought he had a mission that went flawlessly, the mission itself. I don‘t think anybody can find any defects in that, at least that I‘m aware of. And he jumped on it and said, 'This is great.' Then he tried to get the ceasefire, which he — which he created and pulled through and got upset on when it looked like that was about to fall through to muddy up his victory. This is his story to get the Nobel Peace Prize and he doesn‘t want to hear any contradiction. I think it was a mistake to call a halt to the bombing. Certainly might want to pause to get the assessment, how much damage did we do, how much more do we need to do? And I think it was a mistake to go for a ceasefire. If you want to destroy the Iranian nuclear weapons program, which I think is the right objective, it‘s going to take some time. And by the way, we essentially, we and the Israelis, appear to have all the time we need because Iran‘s air defenses, its capability to interfere with aerial bombardment, have essentially been eliminated. There was no rush here."