Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton has said he may soon launch a 2024 presidential campaign, saying he is mulling the decision after ex-President Donald Trump suggested the Constitution could be ‘terminated’ due to alleged fraud in the last election.
Speaking to NBC for an interview on Monday, Bolton said he is “absolutely” willing to run in the 2024 presidential contest, noting he would like to “stop some of the things Trump has done to the [Republican] party” while urging other potential GOP candidates to denounce the former commander in chief.
“I think to be a presidential candidate you can’t simply say ‘I support the Constitution,’ you have to say ‘I would oppose people who would undercut it,’” Bolton went on, adding that he would “seriously consider getting in” if Republicans fail to offer strong resistance to Trump.
Bolton later shared a portion of his NBC appearance on Twitter, adding the caption: “When you challenge the Constitution itself, that is un-American. If the current GOP presidential candidates don't repudiate Trump, I'm prepared to get in the race.”
The former official was referring to a social media post from Trump over the weekend, in which he reiterated his claims of widespread misconduct in the 2020 presidential election and declared “a massive fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
Though it’s unclear what Trump was calling for, Bolton has repeatedly denounced the comments as “un-American,” even drawing a comparison to the controversial House Un-American Activities Committee, which targeted US citizens for (real or imagined) ties to communism during the Cold War.
Asked when he might announce a presidential run, Bolton said “it might be earlier than some would think,” but declined to give an exact timeline. So far, Trump is the only major Republican contender to officially announce a campaign, though a number of GOP lawmakers and current and former officials have publicly mused about running.
Bolton served in several different positions in the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr. and George Bush Jr. before his stint as Trump’s national security adviser in 2018 and 2019. He was ultimately fired by Trump during a high-profile public row after advocating regime change in Iran and apparently scuppering peace talks with North Korea, with the then-president claiming “we would be in World War Six by now” if he had acted on Bolton’s consistently hawkish advice.