Never one to mince words, President-elect Donald Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton blasted his decision to re-appoint firebrand political commentator Seb Gorka as a senior director for counterterrorism.
Speaking with CNN’s The Source host Kaitlan Collins on Friday night, Bolton–who has become a fierce Trump critic after a brief stint in his first administration–called Gorka a “con-man” with minimal qualifications.
“I wouldn’t have him in any U.S. government,” Bolton said. “I don’t think it’s going to bode well for counterterrorism efforts when the NSC senior director is somebody like that.”
When pressed by Collins on why exactly Gorka is a “con man,” the former Trump adviser said “he needs a full field FBI background investigation about his educational claims and things like that.”
Bolton said Gorka is the “perfect example of somebody who owes his position purely to Donald Trump.”
“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,’” said Bolton. “I’m fully confident that’s exactly what will happen no matter what it is that Trump says.”
Gorka has been described as an Islamophobe. The former national security affairs editor for Breitbart News, Gorka previously said he believes that violence is a “fundamental” part of the Muslim way of life, and his self-proclaimed expertise in Islamic extremism and jihadism was what pipped him a spot in Trump’s first administration.
However, it wasn’t long before Gorka came under fire for his lack of actual expertise. It came to light that the two of the people who’d reportedly endorsed his PhD weren’t even academics, and the third person was a far-right Hungarian MEP with ties to Gorka’s family.
“It’s not even remotely something that I would consider scholarship,” as one academic previously described Gorka’s thesis to CNN. “It does not deploy evidence that would satisfy the most basic methodological requirements for a PhD in the U.S.”
Speaking with the outlet, more experts further pointed out Gorka’s lack of expertise on the Middle East, including that he does not speak Arabic, has not undertaken extensive travel to the Middle East, and had not prior to his White House appointment ever served in either a military or intelligence role.
