John Bolton Rips Trump Picking ‘Con Man’ Seb Gorka for Counterterrorism Role: ‘He Needs a Full Field FBI Background Investigation’
John Bolton insulted Sebastian Gorka as a “con man” in need of a full vetting by the FBI on CNN Friday night after President-elect Donald Trump announced Gorka would serve as a counterterrorism adviser.
On The Source, host Kaitlan Collins pressed Bolton – who served Trump briefly as a national security adviser – about Gorka’s qualifications.
“He has been named as a deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism,” Collins said. “What’s your thought on that selection tonight?”
Bolton replied:
Well, Sebastian Gorka is a con man. I wouldn’t have him in any U.S. government. Fortunately, it’s not the highest position he had been mentioned for. But I don’t think it’s going to bode well for counterterrorism efforts when the NSC senior director is somebody like that. And this is why, obviously everybody is now focusing on the top jobs. But the questions of who are the deputy secretaries, who are the undersecretaries, and so on is also going to tell us a lot about who’s actually running the government.
Collins responded, “Well, you called him a ‘con man.’ Tell us why.”
Bolton responded:
Well, I tell you, he needs a full field FBI background investigation about his educational claims and things like that. I think he is a perfect example of somebody who owes his position purely to Donald Trump. He’s he doesn’t display loyalty. He displays fealty. And that’s what Trump wants. He doesn’t want Gorka’s opinions. He wants Gorka to say, Yes, sir. And I am fully confident that’s exactly what will happen no matter what it is, Trump says.
Gorka was involved in an incident at CPAC in February 2018 with former Mediaite reporter Caleb Ecarma in which he shoved Ecarma and told him to “fuck off.”
A year prior to the exchange, Gorka and Ecarma discussed a fistfight and potentially a pistol duel via email after the latter insulted the former’s Mustang in a tweet.
Ecarma’s diss of Gorka’s four-cylinder pony led to talk of an Aaron Burr/Alexander Hamilton-style drawing match that thankfully never happened. You can catch up on those old Gorka chestnuts here and here.
Watch above via CNN.
