Donald Trump's former national security advisor John Bolton has described Sebastian Gorka, who the incoming commander-in-chief has nominated as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism, as a "con man" who "needs a full FBI field background investigation."
Bolton made the comment during a CNN appearance on Friday shortly after Trump announced a slew of new nominations. Gorka was deputy assistant to the president for seven months during Trump's first administration, from January to August 2017.
The past week has been tumultuous for Trump's cabinet nominees with Matt Gaetz withdrawing himself from consideration for the position of attorney general on Thursday, following reports four Republican senators could join Democrats to block his confirmation. Friday also saw Trump nominate hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as his treasury secretary, one of the most important roles in the incoming administration.
Speaking to CNN's Kaitlan Collins following Gorka's appointment Bolton said: "Sebastian Gorka is a con man. I wouldn't have him in any U.S. government. Fortunately it's not the highest position he had been mentioned for but I don't think it's going to bode well for counter-terrorism efforts when the senior director is somebody like that.
"This is why obviously everybody is now focusing on the top jobs but the questions of who are the deputy secretaries, who are the undersecretaries, is going to tell us a lot about who is actually running the government."
Asked why he viewed Gorka as a "con man," Bolton replied: "He needs a full FBI field background investigation about his educational claims and things like that. I think he is a perfect example of somebody who owes his position purely to Donald Trump.
"He doesn't display loyalty, he displays fealty and that's what Trump wants. He doesn't want Gorka's opinions, he wants Gorka to say 'yes sir' and I'm fully confident that's exactly what will happen no matter what it is Trump says."
Newsweek contacted Trump's presidential transition team and Gorka for comment on Saturday via email and social media direct message respectively outside of office hours.
Despite serving in his first administration for 17 months Bolton has become a trenchant critic of Trump, commenting in February that there would be "celebrations in the Kremlin" if he won the November 5 presidential election.
Following Trump's victory Bolton was fiercely critical of Gaetz's nomination as attorney general, describing it as "the worst nomination for a cabinet secretary in American history."
In his statement announcing Gorka's nomination Trump said: "Dr. Gorka has been a tireless advocate for the America First Agenda and the MAGA Movement." He added that Gorka, who was born in Britain and has Hungarian parents, was a "legal immigrant" to the United States.
Gorka was ousted from Trump's first administration in August 2017 shortly after Steve Bannon, his close political ally, reportedly at the behest of incoming White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. In his resignation letter Gorka blamed "forces" that didn't fully support Trump's "MAGA promise" for his removal from office.
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