Originally Posted by mickeycrimm View Post
John Bolton's recent book was not to kind to the President. Bolton was highly critical of him. But Bolton was by the President's side the entire time they were in France. He says that if the President would have said anything dissing the troops he would have dedicated an entire chapter to it in his book. But he said it is patently untrue that the President dissed the troops.
What I heard Bolton say was that he was present for a conversation about going to the cemetery and didn't hear what was alleged. He did say he would have included it in his book had he heard it. He also said that Trump may have said these things later. I'm confident that the claim that Bolton was by Trump's side the whole time he was in France to be completely fabricated and nonsensical. Does anyone here actually believe this?

By now I believe that Trump and his administration will say anything to get through a news cycle. Bolton has been critical of Trump. If Bolton had heard what is reported, he probably would have included it in his book. That he didn't hear it, makes me wonder if this part of the Atlantic story is true. Bolton's response does not disprove it, but does call it into question. It would be a much stronger pushback, if Bolton was saying that it couldn't have happened because he was involved in all the relevant conversations during that trip.

As a counterpoint, Trump claimed that he never claimed he called McCain a loser. He has. Trump also claimed that he was upset that he couldn't make the trip and called home to his wife to talk about it. Melania was with him in France. Lying to dispute a story Trump is labeling as lies is not a persuasive strategy with me.

I'm also wondering why Trump is not calling on John Kelly to tell what he knows about this. If the Atlantic story is not true, Kelly is in a position to punch enough holes in it to make it sink.