The troubles were exacerbated by foreign policy advisers at war with one another about how to achieve the goal of getting North Korea to give up its arsenal and stopping Iran from ever being able to build one. And so Mr. Bolton, though he does not admit it in the book, played out another version of the same battle he fought inside the George W. Bush administration 15 years ago — and, in both cases, departed in disgust, and leaving a trail of angry colleagues. Only this time, the sitting secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, whom Mr. Bolton portrays as usually a teammate in efforts to contain Mr. Trump, has denounced the revelations as the work of a “traitor.” (He has not, however, argued with any of the specifics Mr. Bolton recounts.) Mr. Bolton was a prodigious note taker, so his account of the key negotiating moments may be the best record historians can turn to for the next quarter-century or more, until files are declassified. When Mr. Bolton had to leave Hanoi before a news conference, where the administration would have to explain how the diplomacy that Mr. Trump once promoted as the end of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program fell apart, Mr. Pompeo looked at the national security adviser with envy and said, “Lucky you.”

Source: New York Times June 21, 2020 18:00 UTC