Pompeo denounces 'lies' by 'traitor' John Bolton

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo late Thursday (June 18) ripped into Mr John Bolton for his explosive memoir about working for President Donald Trump, calling the former national security advisor a "traitor."

"John Bolton is spreading a number of lies, fully-spun half-truths and outright falsehoods," Mr Pompeo said in a statement.

"It is both sad and dangerous that John Bolton's final public role is that of a traitor who damaged America by violating his sacred trust with its people."

"To our friends around the world: you know that President Trump's America is a force for good in the world."

Mr Pompeo said he had not yet read the book, "The Room Where It Happened," which the Trump administration is trying to block from publication.

But according to excerpts published by major newspapers, Mr Bolton said that Mr Pompeo - one of the rare aides never to clash publicly with Mr Trump - disparaged him in private.

According to The New York Times, Mr Bolton writes that he received a note from Mr Pompeo during Mr Trump's historic first meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore, saying of the president, "He is so full of shit."

Mr Pompeo travelled four times to North Korea in 2018 to jumpstart diplomacy for Mr Trump, who has hailed his own efforts as worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.

But Mr Bolton wrote that Mr Pompeo, a month after the Singapore summit in June 2018, dismissed Mr Trump's North Korea diplomacy, saying it had "zero probability of success," according to the Times report.

Mr Bolton is well-known for his hawkish views on North Korea and left in September shortly after Mr Trump, accompanied by Mr Pompeo, again met Mr Kim on the Demilitarised Zone in Korea.