Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace deserves credit for his dogged questioning of National Security Adviser John Bolton over the Trump administration’s contradictory stances on Russia’s sabotage of U.S. democracy.
In a brief discussion about the attempted assassination of Venezuela president Nicolás Maduro, Bolton said, “I can say unequivocally there is no U.S. government involvement in this at all.”
Unfortunately for Bolton, he was unable to be so clear, concise or unequivocal answering the barrage of questions Wallace subsequently unleashed about “the apparent disconnect between what Trump administration officials are saying about Russian meddling in 2016 and in 2018 and what President Trump is saying about it.”
First, Bolton tried to explain what Trump means when he calls the Russia investigation a “hoax” despite the indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence officers and his administration’s warning about continued attempts at interference in our elections.
"I think what he’s saying by the hoax is the idea that somehow the Russians directed and controlled his campaign or direct and control his administration, that there was some conspiracy or some violation of U.S. law in 2016," Bolton tried to argue.
Then why didn’t Trump “call out Vladimir Putin and say ‘Knock it off?’” Wallace asked. He played a clip of Trump saying, during his press conference with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, “I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. “
“Why not stand there, right alongside Putin, with the whole world watching and say, ‘We are not going to stand for anymore meddling?’” Wallace continued.
Bolton couldn’t explain it, of course. So he relied on Trump’s obviously dishonest claim to have misspoken that Bolton even more dishonestly claimed “made clear” where Trump stands.
“You can’t read any motive into what he did other than his deep concern about Russian election meddling than to put the four operating heads and myself out for that press briefing,” Bolton continued. “The whole point of that was to show what his administration was doing to counter Russian meddling and other, broader, influence operations.”
Wallace did not let up. He noted that during Trump’s rally the night before, he had also accused China and North Korea of meddling in our elections. “No, there wasn’t,” Wallace said. “It was Russia that was interfering. That’s what everybody’s been focusing on. That’s what you focused on in your briefing.”
Bolton broke into a new tap dance: “Right. There’s no question that Russia was the principal violator in 2016 and that their activity this year puts them in the lead, although as people said, activity so far at least is down from 2016. But it does not exclude the potential for others to meddle and the broader issue that I think FBI Director Christopher Wray talked about in particular, of influence efforts that go beyond the specifics of a particular election. I think that’s very troubling too and something we need more focus on.”
Of course, Bolton was more likely focused on pleasing the Narcissist in Chief than in serving the American people. And Trump has already made it abundantly clear which side he falls on.
Watch Bolton try to defend the indefensible below, from the August 5, 2018 Fox News Sunday.
(Transcript excerpts via FoxNews.com)