Bolton told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday that Trump’s actions to overturn the election results were indefensible, but added that the former president was a “disruption in power” and not the leader of an “assault on our democracy.” Bolton said he disagrees with the premise that Trump attempted a coup, which he said requires cunning and sophisticated planning. “That’s not the way Donald Trump does things,” Bolton said. “It goes from one…idea to another, one plan falling apart and another coming.” “As someone who helped plan the coup, not here but in other places, there’s a lot of work to be done and that’s not what he did,” Bolton added. He said Trump did “unleash” the rioters on Capitol Hill, but it was not to overturn the Constitution and instead to give himself more time to challenge the results in state legislatures. Later, Tapper pressed Bolton to clarify what he was referring to in his comment that he was plotting coups. Bolton mentioned a failed coup attempt in Venezuela in 2019 against President Nicolas Maduro, although he added that the US government had “not much to do” with it. Protesters took to the streets in late April of that year to force Maduro from power, led by National Assembly leader Juan Guaido, who the US still recognizes as interim president even though the coup was unsuccessful. “The idea that Donald Trump was half-assed by the Venezuelan opposition is ridiculous,” Bolton said. The former U.N. ambassador also said that if anyone thinks Trump has higher goals than delaying voter certification, “you’re going to overreact, and I think that’s a real danger to the committee, which has done a very good job.” Bolton has served in multiple capacities over the years in the administrations of former Presidents Reagan, George W. Bush, George W. Bush and Trump. White House: Mexico pledges to invest $1.5 billion in border infrastructure Judge allows abortions to resume in Louisiana The committee’s public hearing on Tuesday focused on Trump’s efforts to rally his supporters to come to Washington ahead of the Jan. 6 date Congress is set to certify the election results. The committee revealed in its hearing that texts and an unpublished draft of a tweet show that Trump’s call to supporters to march on Capitol Hill was not spontaneous. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the committee’s vice chairwoman, also revealed that Trump tried to subpoena a witness expected to appear at a future hearing, raising further questions about possible witness tampering.
