#John Bolton says Mike Pompeo only backs Trump for ‘political future’

Former national security adviser John Bolton fired back at Mike Pompeo on Tuesday, saying the Secretary of State only sticks with President Trump to protect his “political future.”

“I think his political future is very much tied to the Trump administration and I can understand what he’s doing,” Bolton charged in a Fox News interview.

Bolton separately told “CBS Evening News” on Tuesday that he “felt sorry for” Pompeo.

The secretary of state “made a decision, which is certainly his to make, to tie his political future to Donald Trump. I think that’s what he continues to do. I feel sorry for him for doing that,” Bolton said.

Pompeo, who is interested in running for president himself one day, on Monday bashed Bolton as “not dissimilar” to Edward Snowden, the exiled whistleblower who in 2013 exposed US surveillance programs, including the dragnet collection of domestic call records. Pompeo advocated Snowden’s execution.

Pompeo also said Bolton was cut out of White House deliberations because of his reputation as a leaker.

“The president and others, myself included, had to cut him out of meetings because he was leaking or he’d twist things or he’d lie,” Pompeo said.

Bolton’s 592-page anti-Trump chronicle “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir” was released Tuesday after many of its key allegations were reported last week.

According to Bolton, Pompeo often agreed with him during his 17 months in office. Bolton alleges that Pompeo passed him a note during Trump’s 2018 Singapore summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that said Trump was “full of s–t.”

Trump administration officials say Bolton’s book includes classified information, which may subject him to loss of book revenue and prison time.

A federal judge declined to order the book’s release be halted, but noted Bolton “just walked away” from an incomplete pre-publication review process.

A Pompeo spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.