“I don’t think he’s fit for office. I don’t think he has the competence to carry out the job,” Bolton told ABC News in an interview set to air in full on Sunday.
Bolton's comments come ahead of the release of his forthcoming book, "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir," which describes Trump as a person easily manipulated by foreign leaders. Trump late Wednesday called the book's allegations "lies" and lashed out at his former adviser, calling him a "disgruntled boring fool."
But Bolton in the interview said Trump was often distracted from important issues due to his singular focus on getting re-elected.
“There really isn’t any guiding principle that I was able to discern other than what’s good for Donald Trump’s re-election. I think he was so focused on the reelection that longer-term considerations fell by the wayside,” Bolton said.
The US Justice Department on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Bolton to prevent publication of his book.
On Monday, President Donald Trump told reporters that it is inappropriate for Bolton to write a book with classified information in it, adding that he may be breaking the law if the book gets published.
US Attorney General William Barr has said that Bolton has not completed the pre-publication review process to remove the classified information from the book. Barr contends that the book contains classified information about very current events and policy issues.
