Former national security adviser John Bolton said Thursday that former President Trump had difficulty separating fact from fiction.
“Look, Trump can’t tell the difference between truth and lies,” Bolton told CNN’s “The Source with Kaitlan Collins.” “It’s not that he lies a lot, because to lie you have to do it consciously. He just doesn’t know the difference.”
His comments were in response to President Trump’s Thursday press conference, which lasted more than an hour, during which he and Vice President Harris answered reporters’ questions about the election, as well as strategy and policy.
At one point, Trump claimed other members of his team had called for Hillary Clinton to be jailed, and said he never wanted that for the former first lady.
“I was very protective of her,” he said. “I think my guys understand that. They were always saying, ‘Lock her up, lock her up,’ and I was like, ‘Guys, please stay calm.'”
During the 2016 campaign, Trump led crowds at rallies repeatedly chanting “lock her up!”
“If it doesn’t sit well with anybody else, he doesn’t care, and he’s gotten away with it for decades,” Bolton added. “So for him, truth is whatever he wants it to be.”
During the press conference, Trump also floated a theory reminiscent of the election denialism he took part in during the 2020 election. He told reporters that it would likely be “unconstitutional” for Harris to become the Democratic nominee without going through a primary election.
“This is further evidence of how little Trump knows about American history,” Bolton said.
Bolton also said the move could be a test of different arguments the former president could use to challenge the election results if he lost.
“Trump never loses. So if he is not declared the winner in 2024 like he was in 2020, it will be because he has been wronged again. Stolen again,” Bolton concluded.
