Bolton Says Trump Not Fit for Office, Lacks Competence - TV Interview as Trump says 'We won't be closing the country again' amid new ca

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Former US National Security Adviser John Bolton said during a television interview on Thursday that he does not believe President Donald Trump is fit for office because he lacks the competence needed to do the job.

“I don’t think he’s fit for office. I don’t think he has the competence to carry out the job,” Bolton told ABC News in an interview set to air in full on Sunday.

Bolton's comments come ahead of the release of his forthcoming book, "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir," which describes Trump as a person easily manipulated by foreign leaders. Trump late Wednesday called the book's allegations "lies" and lashed out at his former adviser, calling him a "disgruntled boring fool."

But Bolton in the interview said Trump was often distracted from important issues due to his singular focus on getting re-elected.

“There really isn’t any guiding principle that I was able to discern other than what’s good for Donald Trump’s re-election. I think he was so focused on the reelection that longer-term considerations fell by the wayside,” Bolton said.

[link to sputniknews.com (secure)]

President Donald Trump has said the US will not conduct another coronavirus shutdown even as new cases spiked across several states where measures have been eased.

“We won’t be closing the country again. We won’t have to do that,” Mr Trump said on Wednesday night during an interview with Fox News.

Those comments came as six American states announced all-time highs for new Covid-19 infections on Tuesday.

The states – Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas and Nevada – have now seen thousands contract coronavirus since phased reopened began some two weeks ago.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow and treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin have also reiterated that the United States could not shut down again.

[link to www.independent.co.uk (secure)]