John Bolton, who served as former President Donald Trump's National Security Advisor and as ambassador to the United Nations, says he will be briefed on Wednesday following revelations that Chinese surveillance balloons were deployed in the U.S. during Trump's administration.
The briefing comes as three unidentified objects were detected and shot down over United States and Canadian territory over the weekend and after a Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down earlier this month.
President Joe Biden's administration said China deployed surveillance balloons in the U.S. at least three times during the Trump administration, and Bolton has said he was not aware of the incidents at the time.
“I’m looking forward to it. I have even more questions now than when I first got in touch with them,” Bolton said in an interview Monday on Meet the Press NOW. Bolton said he did not know who in Biden's administration would be conducting the briefing or whether other former Trump officials would be present.
Bolton said he senses “confusion, disarray, and disorder” coming from the Biden administration’s handling of the objects found over U.S. airspace in the past two weeks.
“I think a good part of this has come from the administration trying to make it up as it goes along, covering its posterior as we say, and making initial assessments on the Chinese balloon in particular that turned out to be incorrect,” Bolton said.
Bolton added that he is “still considering” a 2024 presidential run after telling Meet the Press NOW in December that he may launch a presidential bid to counter Trump. Bolton said he does not fully support other potential candidates like former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is expected to announce her candidacy on Wednesday.
“I think Nikki is really running for vice president,” Bolton said, “I think she has a problem because she first said she wouldn’t run if President Trump ran. And her justification for changing is that a lot of things have changed, which I don’t think is very convincing."
Bolton said he believes Trump will “have fun” with Haley’s credibility saying she is “light as a feather.” Bolton also criticized Pompeo, who is considered a potential candidate.
“I think he has problems with his candidacy,” Bolton said, “A great disappointment to me was during our time together in the administration. He let his ambition outrun his principles. His desire to become Trump’s best boy, at which he was very successful. I think that would be a real problem for him in November were he the party nominee.”