Putting self-interest first, Bolton, like Trump, betrayed his country

John Bolton wasn’t in “The Room Where It Happened.” I was. The room where it happened was the room in which courageous public servants — including several from Bolton’s staff — gave testimony to hold a corrupt president accountable.

So, it makes me heartsick to see Bolton cashing in on his new book while Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman’s promotion to full colonel is imperiled because military officials fear President Donald Trump might nix it as retribution.

Vindman had the honor and courage to testify under oath about what he witnessed while serving on the staff of the White House’s National Security Council: A president who held up congressionally approved military aid to an embattled ally in order to extort that nation for dirt on his political opponent.

Vindman, a decorated Iraq War veteran, told Congress that nobody at the NSC, the State Department or the Pentagon supported withholding that aid to Ukraine. He testified that Trump’s requests for nonexistent dirt on Joe Biden were demands that were “inappropriate and had nothing to do with national security.”

He testified that Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, had interfered in official duties and had been “promoting false narratives that undermined the United States’ Ukraine policy.” And he testified about how the transcript of Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president ended up in a secure White House server that’s supposed to be reserved only for highly classified national security documents.

Bolton, as Trump’s national security adviser, had a frontrow seat to all this — and apparently much more — so Congress asked him to testify. Rather than putting his duty to our nation and its Constitution first, as Vindman did, Bolton refused to appear, ostensibly because the same president he’s now trashing in his book hadn’t authorized him to do so.

That’s disgusting enough. But Bolton also has the unmitigated gall to claim now that we House Democrats should have filed much broader articles of impeachment against his former boss. This is the very essence of throwing insults from the cheap seats after refusing an invitation to take the stage.

Impeachment investigators twice sought Bolton’s testimony, but he replied, “See you in court.” We had to move fast as a matter of national security to protect the election Trump was trying to rig, and Bolton — as a former national security adviser — knew that.

The House Judiciary Committee tried going to court to obtain testimony from former White House counsel Don Mcgahn; that case is still pending before an appeals court more than four months after we finished impeaching the president.

Sure, Bolton later said he would testify if subpoenaed in the Senate impeachment trial, but he knew that Trump-enabler-in-chief Mitch Mcconnell wouldn’t let any witnesses be called. Remember, Mcconnell openly and shamelessly proclaimed he would not be an impartial juror in the impeachment trial as his oath required. Bolton knew that the Senate fix was in.

Bolton wouldn’t stand up and speak his secrets in the House, where he would have faced tough questioning from Democrats plus the wrath of a vengeful president; instead, he saved it all for his book. He even knew the president would be likely to challenge the book’s publication in court — unlikely to succeed but very likely to drive up sales. He saw dollar signs, plain and simple.

So Bolton cashes in while Vindman’s career is in jeopardy. This is Donald Trump’s America — where duty, honor and loyalty are punished, while stonewalling, cowardice and greed are rewarded.

Bolton is no hero for publishing a book about Trump’s failures. In fact, Bolton has the same character flaw that led to Trump’s impeachment: putting self over public interest. They both betrayed America.