>>> FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER JOHN BOLTON, STILL A
POTENTIAL WILD CARD IN THE
IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS, NOT
AGREEING TO TESTIFY YET.
BUT PRIVATELY IT SEEMS HE WAS
VENTING TO A GROUP OF WEALTHY
INVESTORS AT A MIAMI SPEECH LAST
WEEK.
WEEK. ACCORDING TO MANY PEOPLE WHO
HEARD HIS REMARKS AND TALKED TO
NBC NEWS EXCLUSIVELY, BOLTON
SPEAKING TO HEDGE FUND MANAGERS
AT A MORGAN STANLEY CONFERENCE,
TOOK ISSUE WITH THE PRESIDENT’S
GRASP ON FOREIGN POLICY
ESPECIALLY TURKEY’S PRESIDENT
ERDOGAN AND THE ROLE BUSINESS
INTERESTS MAY PLAY IN THAT
RELATIONSHIP.
RELATIONSHIP. ERDOGAN IS MEETING WITH THE
PRESIDENT AT THE WHITE HOUSE
TOMORROW, WE SHOULD NOTE.
JOINING ME NOW, NBC NEWS
CORRESPONDENT CARA LEE AND MSNBC
POLITICAL ANALYST ELISE JORDAN.
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR STORY BECAUSE
IT SEEMS BOLTON LET A LOT OF
CATS OUT OF THE BAG WHEN HE WAS
TALKING TO THE HEDGE FUND
MANAGERS.
MANAGERS. >> THAT’S RIGHT, STEPHANIE RUHLE
AND I ARE REPORTING THAT BOLTON
WAS AT THIS CONFERENCE TO GIVE
THE KEYNOTE SPEECH.
THIS WAS BILLED AS SOMETHING
THAT WAS OFF THE RECORD WHERE HE
COULD SPEAK CANDIDLY AND
ACCORDING TO THE PEOPLE IN THE
ROOM, HE REALLY DID.
HE TALKED ABOUT TURKEY, WHICH HE
SAID, ANDREA, WAS THE MOST
FRUSTRATING POLICY DECISION BY
THE PRESIDENT THAT HE HAD SEEN.
HE REALLY WAS -- DIDN’T
UNDERSTAND IT, HE SAID NO ONE
WAS ALIGNED WITH THE PRESIDENT
ON TURKEY AMONG HIS TEAM.
AND HE SUGGESTED THERE MUST BE
SOME BUSINESS OR PERSONAL REASON
FOR THE APPROACH THAT THE
PRESIDENT WAS TAKING IN TURKEY,
PERHAPS MORE INTERESTINGLY, OR
EQUALLY AS INTERESTING, HE WAS
ASKED, YOU KNOW, WHAT HAPPENS,
IT’S 2021, PRESIDENT TRUMP WINS
A SECOND TERM, HE’S UNLEASHED,
WHAT DOES HE DO?
AND HE TOOK THAT OPPORTUNITY TO
TAKE A STAB AT THE PRESIDENT’S
SON-IN-LAW AND DAUGHTER, IVANKA
TRUMP AND JARED KUSHNER, WHERE
HE SURMISED THEY WOULD TRY TO
GET THE PRESIDENT TO REWRITE HIS
LEGACY AND CONVINCE HIM TO
NOMINATE A LIBERAL LIKE LAURENCE
TRIBE, WHO IS A HARVARD
PRESIDENT AND A CRITIC OF
PRESIDENT TRUMP, TO THE SUPREME
COURT, AND HE ALSO CRITICIZED
SENATOR RAND PAUL OF KENTUCKY, A
REPUBLICAN, WHO HAS AS
ISOLATIONIST VIEW ON FOREIGN
POLICY AND SAID TRUMP COULD GO
FULL ISOLATIONIST AND PULL OUT
OF NATO AND OTHER THINGS.
LASTLY, MORE BROADLY SPEAKING,
BOLTON, ACCORDING TO PEOPLE WHO
HEARD HIS SPEECH, REALLY TOOK
ISSUE WITH THE WAY THE PRESIDENT
APPROACHED FOREIGN POLICY,
SAYING THAT IT’S NOT LIKE REAL
ESTATE DEALS, YOU CAN’T LOSE ONE
AND THEN MOVE ON TO THE NEXT.
HE EXPRESSED CONCERN ABOUT THE
PRESIDENT’S APPROACH AS A
TRANSACTIONAL KIND OF NEGOTIATOR
ON FOREIGN POLICY, THAT THAT WAS
GOING TO HURT U.S. -- THE U.S.
OVER THE LONG TERM, THAT THERE
NEEDED TO BE A CONSISTENCY AND
ALSO AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE
INTERCONNECTEDNESS OF AMERICA’S
RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER
COUNTRIES ACROSS THE GLOBE.
BOLTON, WE SHOULD SAY, DECLINED
TO COMMENT FOR THIS STORY BUT WE
SPOKE TO A NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN
THE ROOM WHO HEARD HIS WORDS
FIRSTHAND.
FIRSTHAND. >> IT’S AMAZING, ELISE, BECAUSE,
I MEAN, YOU WORKED WITH JOHN
BOLTON, YOU KNOW THAT HE HAD
DIFFERENT KINDS OF
RELATIONSHIPS, LET’S SAY, WITH
THE STATE DEPARTMENT AND WITH
THE WHITE HOUSE, LEADING UP TO
BEING APPOINTED AS U.N.
AMBASSADOR, NEVER CONFIRMED BUT
HE SERVED AS A RECESS
APPOINTMENT.
APPOINTMENT. HE WORKED WITH HIM AT THE NSC,
HE SEEMED TO HAVE BEEN VERY
FORTHCOMING WITH THE MORGAN
STANLEY PEOPLE.
STANLEY PEOPLE. >> I WOULD NOT WANT TO MESS WITH
JOHN BOLTON, PERIOD, ESPECIALLY
IN A BUREAUCRATIC INFIGHT AND
ESPECIALLY IN THIS WAR THAT’S
SEEPING INTO THE PRESS.
SOMETHING I FOUND INTERESTING
ABOUT CAROL AND STEPHANIE’S
REPORTING WAS THAT BOLTON REALLY
TEASED WHAT’S GOING TO BE IN HIS
BOOK.
BOOK. HE SOUNDED VERY FORTHRIGHT.
WHAT HE SAID WAS, I DON’T THINK
WE SHOULD DOWNPLAY IT ALL, IT
WAS SIMPLY JAW DROPPING TO HAVE
THE FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY
ADVISER ACCUSE THE PRESIDENT OF
HAVING BUSINESS INTERESTS THAT
INFLUENCE HIS FOREIGN POLICY
DECISIONS, IS SIMPLY
JAW-DROPPING.
JAW-DROPPING. I THINK THE FACT THAT HE TEASED
THAT THERE IS GOING TO BE SO
MUCH MORE TO COME IS REALLY
LAYING THE GROUNDWORK FOR WHAT
IS GOING TO BE A MESSY OBSTACLE
FOR THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION.
>> AND CAROL, AS I REMEMBER, YOU
TRAVELED WITH HIM TO TURKEY AT A
VERY CRITICAL TIME.
>> I DID, YES.
>> AND HAD SOME EXTRAORDINARY
REPORTING ON THAT TRIP WHERE HE
GOT HIMSELF ON THE WRONG SIDE OF
ERDOGAN JUST BEFORE HE ARRIVED
IN TURKEY.
IN TURKEY. SO HE HAS A REAL AXE TO GRIND
ALSO AGAINST ERDOGAN WHO IS
COMING TOMORROW FOR THIS BIG
MEETING AT THE WHITE HOUSE.
>> YEAH, THAT’S RIGHT, ANDREA,
HE REALLY -- WE TRAVELED LAST --
I THINK IT WAS APRIL -- JANUARY
OF 2019, WENT TO ISRAEL AND
TURKEY, IT WAS NOVEMBER,
REMEMBER, IT WAS THE WAKE OF THE
PRESIDENT’S FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT
THAT HE WAS WITHDRAWING ALL
TROOPS FROM SYRIA AFTER SPEAKING
WITH ERDOGAN ON THE PHONE.
WHEN WE WERE IN ANKARA, YOU
KNOW, PRESIDENT ERDOGAN JUST
PULLED BACK ON A MEETING WITH
JOHN BOLTON AND JOHN BOLTON SAID
THAT WAS JUST FINE WITH HIM AND
HE’S ALWAYS BEEN SOMEONE WHO’S
TOUGHER ON THIS ISSUE THAN
CLEARLY THE PRESIDENT IS.
>> CAROL LEE, ANOTHER EXCLUSIVE