National Security Adviser John Bolton stoop up in defense of President Donald Trump following last week’s ill-fated summit on nuclear weapons with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
“I think it was unquestionably a success for the United States because the president protected, defended American interests,” Bolton said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” of the summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam.
Bolton rejected the narrative that the failed deal also meant that the whole summit was also unsuccessful and added that Trump advanced American national security interests during the summit and rejected “a bad deal,” Politico reported.
“I think he made a very important point to North Korea and to other countries around the world about negotiating with him,” Bolton said. “He’s not desperate for a deal — not with North Korea, not with anybody — if it’s contrary to American national interests.”
Bolton’s defense of the Trump administration comes after the American and North Korean officials offered competing versions of what was demanded during the summit in Vietnam.
Trump said Kim demanded complete relief from sanctions in exchange for incremental progress toward denuclearization; North Korean representatives disputed that account.
“If you can’t get a good deal, and the president offered North Korea the best deal it could possibly get, no deal is better than a bad deal,” Bolton said on CNN. “The United States’ objective of making sure North Korea gets rid of its nuclear arsenal is still the administration’s policy.”
“What [the president] has said from the beginning, that North Korea, if it makes a strategic decision to denuclearize, can have the prospect of a very, very bright economic future,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“The President held that door open for North Korea in Singapore. They didn’t walk through it,” he added, referring to Trump’s first summit with Kim. “He held it open for them again in Hanoi. They didn’t walk through. He’s ready to hold it open again.”
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