"Iranian man charged for trying to assassinate former national security adviser John Bolton" PBS NewsHour 8/10/2022
Excerpt
SUMMARY: The U.S. Justice Department charged an Iranian national with plotting to kill John Bolton, who was National Security Adviser to President Trump. Federal officials say the suspect was a member of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, who allegedly tried to hire a hitman for $300,000 that was actually an FBI informant. Nick Schifrin joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.
SUMMARY: Ambassador John Bolton, who was President Trump's national security adviser, has deep familiarity with Republican administrations. But as he describes in a new book, "The Room Where It Happened," Bolton found Trump's divergence from presidential norms "stunning." Bolton's claims about Trump's foreign policy, in particular, have stirred national controversy. Bolton joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.
SUMMARY: National Security Adviser John Bolton on Monday criticized North Korea’s denuclearization efforts, saying leader Kim Jong Un was not living up to the commitment he made to President Donald Trump at their June meeting in Singapore.
“What was significant about Singapore was the North Korean commitment to denuclearize, and they have not taken effective steps to do that,” Bolton said in an interview with PBS NewsHour correspondent Nick Schifrin. Closing the Punggye-ri nuclear test site with no international observers present, as North Korea did in May shortly before the summit, does not qualify, he said.
After the summit in Singapore, critics argued Trump failed to reach a substantive deal with Kim on winding down North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. The President and senior administration officials have claimed the meeting was a success.
Bolton said the Trump administration was working to send Secretary of State Mike Pompeo back to Pyongyang to meet with Kim again. Pompeo was in Singapore for the summit and has led the United States’ negotiating effort.
“We’re not looking for rhetoric here. We’re looking for performance of North Korea’s own commitment made to us, made to South Korea beforehand, to denuclearize,” Bolton said.
