At Odds With Trump? It’s Nothing But Gossip, Bolton Says

(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump’s third national security adviser in as many years has dismissed growing speculation that his hawkish views are putting him increasingly at odds with his boss.

John Bolton, who’s been publicly undercut by the president on both North Korea and Iran, told reporters on a trip to Abu Dhabi that his job was to deliver advice and that’s what he continues to do.

“My view of all this gossip columnist reporting is summed up by the old saying from central Asia: The dogs bark and the caravan keeps moving on,” Bolton said at a media round-table where he accused Iran of trying to develop a nuclear weapon and threatened strong U.S. action against its proxies around the Middle East.

The New York Times has reported that Trump is increasingly concerned his adviser is pushing him in the direction of regime change in Iran and toward escalation on other foreign policy dilemmas he’d prefer to resolve peacefully. If Bolton had his way, the president reportedly said in private remarks, “we’d be in four wars by now.”

Trump dismissed the reports, tweeting that: “There is no infighting whatsoever....”

Yet those differences are increasingly on public display, fueling speculation over how long the straight-talking conservative, who was a loud proponent of the Iraq war, can last in a job that’s frustrated seasoned military men like Lt. Gen. HR McMaster.

During a visit to Japan, Trump made it clear he was not looking to replace the regime in Iran, though Bolton was a proponent of that policy long before he was selected as national security adviser last year. Trump also said he wasn’t bothered by recent North Korean missile tests that Bolton had labeled a violation of UN sanctions, tweeting that the firing of “some small weapons” this month “disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me.”

“Right now I’m a government official and I advise the president,” Bolton said. “I’m the national security adviser not the national security decision-maker, so it’s really up to him to make those decisions.”

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