Welcome to Pushback. I'm Aramette. John Bolton is out as National Security Advisor.

And while the move has sent shockwave throughout the Beltway, it was not a surprise to my next

guest. Back in June, John Kariaku, a former CIA analyst, wrote that John Bolton's days are numbered

and that he will soon be fired.

Welcome, John.

Thanks for having me.

How did you know?

You know, it's kind of funny. It was a very Washington situation. I have some friends

who happen to work at the White House, like most people in Washington who are even vaguely related to either journalism

or politics, you have friends from all over the ideological spectrum.

They invited me out for drinks one day after work, and all they wanted to do was vent.

And they wanted to vent about John Bolton.

They told me in June, and I published on June 12th, that the president was very angry with John Bolton. They told me in June, and I published on June 12th, that the president was very angry

with John Bolton, not necessarily because of their disagreements on policy, but because

Bolton would then leak those disagreements to the media and was directly contradicting the

president in the media. And that was a big no-no for Donald Trump.

They said that Trump is willing to hear you out in a meeting,

not that he'll necessarily listen to what you say or take your advice,

but by God, you better not cross him in the press.

And Bolton did that repeatedly.

What Bolton was doing, and this was confirmed actually in the day or two days after his

resignation, is when he would have a serious policy disagreement with Trump, he would call

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