WASHINGTON_President Donald Trump ousted John Bolton in part because of frustration with his third national security adviser's guidance to pair military power with economic pressure against Venezuela, according to current and former administration officials.
One senior administration official said that Trump had grown weary of repeated vows from Bolton that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro would be out of office in short order. A second official said that they had clashed over Bolton's efforts to advance planning for military intervention.
That official pointed to the administration's national security strategy, which predated Bolton's tenure and called for "strong diplomatic engagement" to isolate rogue nations in the Western Hemisphere. "That has been and remains the policy," the official told McClatchy, although officials across the administration insist that all options are on the table.
