John Bolton isn’t the hero of the Ukraine story

At an appearance at Duke University to promote his forthcoming book on Monday, former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton was asked whether he believes the July 25, 2019, phone call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was “perfect,” as Trump has repeatedly described it.

“You’ll love Chapter 14,” Bolton said in response.

HA HA HA, wait. That’s actually not at all funny. It’s crass commercialism when patriotism is warranted.

And this isn’t the first time that Bolton has quite clearly put his own personal (and financial) interests before the good of the country. While there’s been a tendency to lionize Bolton amid all the focus on Trump’s pressure campaign to force Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, the man himself has repeatedly conducted himself in less than praiseworthy ways.

Remember way back in early November 2019 when Bolton’s lawyer sent a letter — sort of out of the blue — to members of Congress investigating the Ukraine story teasing that his client had been “personally involved in many of the events, meetings, and conversations about which you have already received testimony, as well as many relevant meetings and conversations that have not yet been discussed in the testimonies thus far.”

Intriguing, right? The sort of the thing that makes you think Bolton, in the interest of our country, might want to, you know, tell someone about what he knew so that lawmakers — who were in the process of impeaching Trump in the House and then acquitting him in the Senate — might have all the facts at their disposal.

Nope! See, Bolton, through his lawyer, rejected an invitation from House investigators to talk about all of the “many relevant meetings and conversations that have not yet been discussed in the testimonies thus far.” Bolton’s stated reason? Concerns about executive privilege.

And Bolton was never called during the Senate trial because Senate Democrats couldn’t get the 51 votes they needed to authorize witnesses.

Now Bolton could have, easily, told his story through some other means. He could have granted an interview with a network to document his interactions with Trump in regard to Ukraine… He chose not to do that.

In fact, what we know about Bolton’s role in all of this comes from leaks to The New York Times. Here’s the key bit:

“President Trump told his national security adviser in August that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats including the Bidens, according to an unpublished manuscript by the former adviser, John R. Bolton.”

Big deal! The kind of thing it would have been helpful to hear directly from Bolton in some sort of public setting — whether before Congress or in a media interview. Right? Right????

Except that, well, Bolton wants to sell books. (And, yes, I am purposely not naming his book here. I am sure you can find it.) So he’s spent months teasing to his book while not actually saying much of anything that would be helpful to the public interest of knowing exactly what happened related to Ukraine.

And now Bolton would like your (and our) sympathy, because he and his legal team are in a fight with the White House over which parts of the book, if any, are censored.

“I hope it’s not suppressed,” Bolton said at Duke on Monday night. “I say things in the manuscript about what he (Trump) said to me. I hope they become public someday.”

Man, I really want to get a look at that book! I better sign on to Amazon right … wait a minute.

So you see what’s happening here, right? Bolton, who purposely passed on several opportunities to tell what he knows to the public, is now trying to get the public behind him in his fight against alleged White House “censorship.” (To be clear: Any attempt by the White House to unnecessarily suppress information in Bolton’s book that makes Trump or his senior officials look bad is obviously not a good thing. But Bolton claiming that he is being silenced is a little bit rich.)

The real heroes in the Ukraine mess are the likes of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and former US diplomat Marie Yovanovitch — people who came forward to tell what they knew even though they were well-aware of the risks involved. (Both Vindman and Yovanovitch lost their jobs in the saga.) Bolton, a man who knows plenty but won’t tell it (unless you buy his book!), doesn’t fit that description. Actually, he doesn’t even come close.