President Donald Trump said Tuesday via Twitter that he had fired national security adviser John Bolton and will name a replacement next week.
“I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration,” said Trump, without getting into specifics.
Bolton, in his own tweet, said he offered to resign on Monday night, contradicting the Trump claim that he asked Bolton for his resignation.
The timing of Trump’s announcement came as a surprise, given that an hour earlier the White House had announced a Tuesday press briefing on an unspecified briefing, which was to feature Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Trump’s next national security adviser will be the fourth of his administration.
His first choice, Michael Flynn, was gone after three weeks for lying to the administration — and subsequently, the FBI — over contacts with Russia during the Trump transition to government.
H.R. McMaster succeeded Flynn, and stayed in the role until March 2018.
Bolton had also served in the administration of George W. Bush as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.