Former US National Security Advisor Admits Plotting Coups, China, Venezuela Respond

A government official from Venezuela called Bolton crazy for the admissions, while the The Venezuelan National Assembly has unanimously condemned the comments made by the former National Security Advisor

By Donald Standeford, SJ Founder/Publisher
July 22, 2022 22:30 pm UTC
Modified: July 22, 2022 22:30 pm

Former U.S. national security advisor John Bolton publicly admitted that he has helped plan coups abroad while he was debating with CNN's Jake Tapper. China took note of the interview and reported what was said on the CCP military website, China Military.

During the interview, Jake Tapper stated, "One doesn’t have to be brilliant to attempt a coup." Bolton replied, "I disagree with that. As somebody who has helped plan coup d’etat, not here, but other places, it takes a lot of work."

Bolten also openly admitted to attempting a coup in Venezuela, where socialist president Nicolás Maduro has held onto power since 2013. The coup, he said turned out not to be successful.

A government official from Venezuela called Bolton "crazy" for the admissions. Jorge Rodriguez, President of the National Assembly of Venezuela said, "What was in the mind of this crazy John Bolton was that the violence would accelerate so that they could have an excuse for the invasion... a military invasion in Venezuela".

The Venezuelan National Assembly has unanimously condemned the comments made by Bolton. Venezuelan lawmaker Pedro Infante stated, "Coups d'état, plans, financing, support and advice to overthrow governments, the assassinations of presidents and invasion of countries and the waging of legal wars [all] have the seal of support and financing of the Government of the United States".

During an interview with Newsmax, Bolton stood by what he had said to Jake Tapper, saying that Washington's support for coups was "necessary to protect [U.S.] interests."

"I think there are a lot of snowflakes out there that don’t understand what you need to do to protect the United States," he stated on Newsmax.

"I'm not going to get into specifics. I did write about Venezuela in my memoir, and I think that any president that's not willing to do what it takes to protect the interests of the American people needs to have some counseling."