John Bolton accuses Trump of 'making up' Ukraine conversation with Vladimir Putin in Elon Musk interview

WASHINGTON, DC: John Bolton disputed former President Donald Trump's claim of speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the latter's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, during an interview with CNN host Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday, August 13, reported The Hill.

Trump shared his account of the conversation during a livestream chat with tech billionaire Elon Musk on X (formerly Twitter) on the previous day.

"I said to Putin, ‘Don’t do it, Vladimir.’ And I told him things that... what I would do. And he said, ‘No way.’ And I said, ‘Way.’ It’s the last time we had the conversation. He would have never done... I get along very well with him," Trump told Musk. "I hope to get along well with him again. It’s a good thing, not a bad thing.”

John Bolton comments on Trump's claim

Reacting to Trump's claim of his last interaction with Putin, the former White House national security adviser told Collins on Tuesday, "I think Trump’s making that up.”

“He certainly didn’t have that conversation with Putin when I was in the White House. I don’t believe he had it before that. I can’t really speak to what came after, but this is another case of Trump making things up that it’s hard to prove or disprove.”

“He can say he had some private conversation at a dinner, at a (Group of 20) meeting, or something like that. I don’t think it happened,” shared Bolton. “And I don’t think that there was really an occasion for Trump to have that conversation. But it fits the persona that Trump thinks he has.”

Bolton claimed that Trump's account did not reflect the dynamic that he witnessed between the GOP nominee and Putin on several occasions.

“I personally — having watched Trump and Putin together, on several occasions, having listened into their phone conversations, having, myself, met Putin on a number of occasions, going back to October of 2001 — I think that Putin essentially thinks that Trump is an easy mark,” he said.

“Putin would take Trump to the cleaners, to Ukraine’s detriment," insisted Bolton, in case Trump ever managed to get him and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a room together to solve the Ukraine crisis.

“This is imagination on Trump’s part. And it shows he really doesn’t understand what’s at stake here. He knows very little history. He certainly knows next to nothing about the history of Ukraine and Russia, which is deeply complicated, even for experts. So, to me, the way he recounts these conversations is one more demonstration that he’s just not fit to be president," he later added.

MAGA supporters call Bolton 'scorned former employee'

Netizens, especially Trump supporters on X, did not find John Bolton to be a credible candidate to dispute Trump as he was dismissed by the former president from his administration in September 2019. The following tweets demonstrate their prevalent takes.

"And why should we believe Bolton? He is a scorned former employee. He will say anything to make Trump look bad," wrote a user.

"Who cares what John Bolton thinks," jibed another.

"You know the panic is real when the Democrats roll out dinosaur John—the same guy who failed miserably and got fired by Trump. No doubt, he'll be the epitome of fairness and objectivity," mocked a third.

"Of course Bolton would say that, he hates Trump & was just guessing. To say Putin doesn’t respect Trump fits Bolton’s agenda!" exclaimed a fourth user.

"John Bolton is a warmonger, so naturally the left believes him even though he makes things up that hard to prove or disprove," slammed a fifth.

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.