STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We now know the president-elect's top choices for his national security team, the people who would advise the president in a crisis. Some are unsurprising, like Veteran Senator Marco Rubio for Secretary of State. He has a lot of foreign policy experience. Others have raised questions in the Senate, which would normally have to confirm the nominees. For Director of National Intelligence, Trump wants the Senate to confirm Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic lawmaker who made news by meeting with Syria's leader and repeating Russian conspiracy theories about Ukraine, among other things. For Attorney General, Matt Gaetz, a Florida provocateur who repeated a Proud Boy slogan while attending Trump's criminal trial and whose resignation from Congress seems to have ended an ethics investigation. John Bolton has questions about both. He was President Trump's national security advisor for part of his first term and later wrote a memoir critical of the President. He's on the line. Ambassador, welcome back.
JOHN BOLTON: Glad to be with you. Thanks for having me.
INSKEEP: What concerns you about Matt Gaetz and Tulsi Gabbard?
BOLTON: Well, I think they are in a category by themselves in terms of the Trump nomination so far in the National Security field date. Neither one of them has the competence or the character or the moral fitness to hold those positions. And what's going to be interesting here is I think there's so much about them we don't yet know, and the more that comes out, the more difficult their confirmation process will be. And really, they're like hand grenades waiting to go off.
INSKEEP: I understand what you're saying about Matt Gaetz, 'cause there's this ethics investigation, and there are Republican senators who want to look at the findings of the ethics investigation. But you raised the question of character, and you included former Congresswoman Gabbard, who might say, look, I'm a veteran, I've served my country. I've served Congress. I just have ideas you don't agree with. What's wrong with her character?
BOLTON: Well, consorting with the enemies of the United States, like Bashar al-Assad, the leader of Syria, as she's done, I think is a character question, and I think her spouting Russian propaganda over the years is a character question. Mitt Romney once called comments she made about Putin's aggression against Ukraine treasonous. Now, she makes these comments and backs away from them, but I don't think that's a question of disagreement over issues. I think that's a fundamental question about her loyalty and given that her job, if she's confirmed, is keeper of the secrets of the United States, that's incredibly serious. And that's why I think Republicans who go - who are rushing to throw themselves over these grenades for Donald Trump really need to hold back until they hear more about both of these nominees because the senators are risking their personal integrity and really their place and history by kind of blindly saying that they'll support him.
INSKEEP: Would you explain for people who may not know what role Matt Gaetz as attorney general would play, not just in law enforcement, but in national security situations and various urgent situations?
BOLTON: Well, the attorney general is a member of the National Security Council. The Justice Department is a major player in national security affairs. The FBI has a critical role in uncovering spies in the United States and plots against American citizens like the ongoing Iranian effort to kill a number of current and former U.S. government employees. It has a counter intelligence function that's critical, the Justice Department's National Security Division prosecutes national security related crimes, and frequently, the attorney general will see crimes being committed or being investigated by foreign governments, foreign officials, foreign citizens trying to influence this country. So this is - obviously it's a law enforcement job, but it's got critical national security elements, as well. And somebody who doesn't have the moral fitness, let alone the competence to do it, really is disqualified. There is a legitimate deference that the Senate should owe to a president and his nominees. The president should be able to get his own team except where there are manifest inadequacies in competence and character and moral fitness. The confirmation process has been, I think, changed over the years into disagreement on substance. The substance - the policy substance, I think that's where the deference to the president comes in.
INSKEEP: About 20 seconds left here. You wrote a book, Ambassador, called "The Room Where It Happened," about being in the room when vital decisions are made. In about 20 seconds, what do you think about when you think of this national security team in some crisis gathering to advise this president?
BOLTON: I think what the President wants in national security for sure is a group of yes men and women. And I hope the people who go into it and some of the nominations I certainly support remember their personal integrity. Give the President their best judgment. Don't be yes men and yes women. That's critical for our country.
INSKEEP: John Bolton was a top foreign policy advisor to President George W. Bush and then to President Trump. Thanks so much.
BOLTON: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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