| July 13, 2022 04:19 PM
F ormer national security adviser John Bolton says those who criticized claims that he assisted in planning coups in other nations are "snowflakes."
Bolton defended his claims he orchestrated coups abroad, dismissing those who denounced his professed involvement in overturning governments as "snowflakes" who didn't understand actions he took in the interest of national security.
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"Well, I think there are a lot of snowflakes out there that don’t understand what you need to do to protect the United States," Bolton said in an appearance on Newsmax on Wednesday.
Bolton alluded to an attempted coup d'etat in Venezuela but did not list any other coups.
"I’m not going to get into specifics. I did write about Venezuela in my memoir. And I think that any president that’s not willing to do what it takes to protect the interests of the American people, it needs to have some counseling," Bolton said.
On Tuesday, he told CNN's Jake Tapper he had helped "plan coup d'etat" while giving analysis after the Jan. 6 committee hearings.
"I disagree with that. As somebody who has helped plan coup d’etat, not here but, you know, other places, it takes a lot of work," Bolton said.
Bolton was pushing back at Tapper's claim that someone does not need to be "brilliant to attempt a coup."
The United States has participated in several coup attempts, including in Iran in 1953, the Dominican Republic in 1961, Brazil in 1964, and Chile in 1973, according to Foreign Policy.
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Some suggest the U.S. government has been involved in planning coups in various countries, but there has been little confirmation of U.S. involvement in several coup attempts. While a report from the BBC suggested former Army soldiers were involved in planning a coup in Venezuela, it is unknown whether the U.S. government was involved.