Bolton, in rejecting Newsmax host’s assertion, says Trump ‘barely knew where Ukraine was’

But Bolton, who has become a vocal critic of Trump, denied that his former boss was tough on Russia, claiming that Trump complained about any sanctions on Russian oligarchs in the United States. Then Bolton, who said Trump “did not” do a better job with Russia than President Biden, went one step further about Trump’s knowledge of Ukraine.

“The fact is he barely knew where Ukraine was,” he said.

Taylor Budowich, a spokesman for Trump, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Budowich told the Hill in a statement that Bolton was fired “because he believes anything less than war is not enough.”

“President Trump ensured peace during his administration and ended wars, making Bolton irrelevant,” Budowich said.

Bolton’s comments come as Russian forces continue to bear down on Ukraine. A 40-mile-long Russian convoy approaching Kyiv had “stalled,” perhaps to regroup, a senior U.S. defense official said, but other forces gathered menacing strength on Tuesday, six days into the invasion of Ukraine. While fighting continues across the country, nearly 680,000 Ukrainians have fled since the start of the Russian invasion, according to the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi.

Convoy near Kyiv stalls but forces close in on Kharkiv, other cities

Trump has faced criticism since he recently described Putin as “smart,” “savvy” and a “genius” for sending military forces into Ukraine. Trump has continued to champion Putin at the expense of Biden, who defeated him in the 2020 presidential election.

In an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham last week, Trump incorrectly seemed to think that the United States had decided to go to war with Russia. After he was corrected by Ingraham, Trump said, “Oh, I thought you said we were sending people in.”

Trump immediately botches what’s happening in Ukraine

As the war has unfolded in Ukraine, Trump has sought to rewrite some of the history surrounding his support of the country and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In a Monday statement, Trump repeated some of the same falsehoods he said during his presidency regarding his backing of Ukraine and NATO, The Fact-Checker’s Glenn Kessler wrote.

“With Trump, it’s hard to know if he’s willfully ignorant or if he has simply swallowed his own spin,” Kessler wrote.

Trump’s effort to rewrite history on his support of NATO and Ukraine

Contrary to the former president’s statements, Trump wanted to leave NATO, according to Bolton’s 2020 memoir. Bolton wrote that he had to convince Trump not to quit NATO in the middle of a 2018 summit, despite his repeated wishes to leave the alliance.

Bolton continued to debunk some of Trump’s falsehoods on Newsmax, a Trump-friendly channel that appeals to far-right conservatives. Schmitt repeated some of what Trump has promoted as his achievements before asking Bolton about Trump’s “very tough stance against Russia.”

“I’m surprised you don’t think that he would have handled it better than Joe Biden,” the host said.

“He did not,” Bolton replied, touching on several instances in which Trump failed to enforce sanctions or was forced into imposing sanctions. “In almost every case, the sanctions were imposed with Trump complaining about it, saying we were being too hard.”

During the interview, Bolton claimed that Trump once asked then-White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly whether Finland was part of Russia. The former national security adviser emphasized that the narrative on Newsmax regarding the Ukraine invasion was a departure from reality.

“It’s just not accurate to say that Trump’s behavior somehow deterred the Russians,” he said. As Schmitt tried to interrupt him, Bolton continued, “I think the evidence is that Russia didn’t feel their military was ready.”

Toward the end of the interview, Bolton flatly stated, as he has since he left the Trump administration, that Trump “was not fit to be president.”

“He was not competent to be president,” he said.

Schmitt replied, “You worked for him, though.”

Bolton acknowledged that he worked for Trump “because I wanted to try … to help protect American national security.”

“I jumped at the chance, there’s no doubt about it,” he said.

Bolton doubled down on his position Tuesday, telling Vice that Trump “and his own political failure” played at least a small role in the invasion of Ukraine.

“To the extent that there was an unnatural environment created, it made it that much easier for Putin,” he said. “I don’t think it was dispositive, but it was a factor, that’s for sure.”