Trump news: President claims he fired John Bolton, as former security adviser texts Fox News hosts live to say this isn't true
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump claimed he fired John Bolton in a tweet on Tuesday as polls showed his approval rating falling 38 per cent, down six points on his July career-best according to a new ABC News/Washington Post, as concerns over the fate of the American economy linger.
The president's abrupt announcement created a flurry of dramatic TV news, with Mr Bolton apparently texting Fox News hosts a simple message: "Let's be clear," he reportedly texted the network's Brian Kilmeade. "I resigned."
The president meanwhile held his latest “Keep America Great” rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Monday night, attacking the “America-hating left”, scaremongering about the release of “horrible, hardened criminals” in sanctuary cities and saying he rolled back energy efficiency standards for lightbulbs because: “I look better under incandescent light”. On another wild evening before a crowd of his most feverish supporters, Mr Trump also made a false claim about voter fraud in California and took sole credit for the US being awarded the 2026 FIFA World Cup and joked about serving a third term in order to be in office when the tournament gets underway.
During his year and a half at the White House, Mr Bolton had particular success in shaping the administration’s policies toward the United Nations and other international organizations, such as the International Criminal Court, as well as advocating for hardline measures on Venezuela and Cuba.
Mr Bolton had launched a broadside campaign against the International Criminal Court that resulted in the US revoking the visa of the court’s chief prosecutor after she sought permission to open an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by American troops and others in Afghanistan.
With the national security adviser on his team, Mr Trump announced the US was withdrawing from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, a position advocated by Mr Bolton.
The deal had been negotiated by the Obama administration to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for easing sanctions, and some in the administration favoured staying in the agreement.
His tenure in the White House was not without its many controversies, of course.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey refused to meet with Mr Bolton during his visit to Turkey to discuss US plans to withdraw troops from Syria in January.
The Turkish president was angered after Mr Bolton called for Turkish security assurances for the US-backed Kurdish forces as a condition for the withdrawal.
The president himself also appeared to undercut Mr Bolton’s public condemnation of missile tests by North Korea.
“North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me,” Mr Trump tweeted. “Some” of his “people” appeared to include Mr Bolton, who had told reporters just hours earlier that North Korean missile tests violated UN Security Council resolutions.
Additional reporting by AP. Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
Donald Trump is set to speak shortly at the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Conference in Washington -
White House spokesperson Hogan Gidley said Charlie Kupperman was the new acting national security adviser and that John Bolton’s “priorities and policies just don’t line up with the president”.
“There is no one issue here,” he added. “They just didn’t align on many issues.”
Donald Trump is delivering a speech before the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Conference in Washington.
The president congratulated the 40 students selected as the White House HBCU competitive scholars, applauding them along with the crowd and adding, “See, that’s what it’s all about, when you get right down to it.”
Donald Trump is mostly sticking to the script in this appearance, a rare moment for the president -
Donald Trump claimed past administrations have “inflicted deep economic pain on many African-American communities,” before attacking China.
“Things are much different today,” he claimed.
Donald Trump asked the HBCU students to “promise” they would make better deals than his predecessors while attacking China for stealing intellectual property from the US at the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Conference in Washington.
The president also said he believed the stock market was about to hit another record-high.
Donald Trump said the majority of new hires in the US are now minorities and women, adding “I don’t know when I’m on the debate stage with whomever I’m on … who is going to beat these numbers?”
The president said his administration is fighting to provide parents with “school choice,” a move that critics say would defund public schools and instead favour charter schools.
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