From RawStory:
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A former national security advisor during Donald Trump's first administration chided his old boss Wednesday evening on CNN — and said the Kremlin is drinking vodka "straight from the bottle" in celebration of Trump's recent negotiations.
John Bolton, who served under Trump from 2018 to 2019 and has been involved in negotiations with Russia, joined CNN's "The Source" with anchor Kaitlan Collins.
When asked about his expectations for Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Bolton said he has no expectations anymore.
"I think we know exactly what's going to happen," he said. "President Trump has effectively surrendered to Putin before the negotiations have even begun."
Bolton said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's comments in Belgium "constitute the terms of a settlement that could've been written in the Kremlin."
"Maybe they were written in the Kremlin and got out in propaganda channels," he surmised.
Bolton noted that the Trump administration reversed multiple U.S. foreign policy positions, including that Ukraine be returned to full sovereignty and territorial integrity.
"That's gone," he said.
Any notion that Ukraine could join NATO also looks to be over, he said.
"Putin has scored a whole series of victories today. It's hard to encompass them all," said Bolton.
Putin wants to negotiate with Trump over Zelensky, thinking he'll get more out of it, Bolton railed, noting there's "no country" better than Russia at "pocketing" concessions.
Bolton said Trump fell victim to Putin's "flattery campaign" after the Russian president released hostage Marc Fogel and made Trump look like "the center of attention."
"Putin hasn't forgotten his lessons as a KGB agent, maneuvering an operative around," he said.
Bolton continued laying into the Trump administration for "blowing up" NATO's position on Ukraine as well as a decades-old agreement that broke up the Soviet Union.
"This is a palpable harm to American national security," he said, and leaves every other former republic in the Soviet Union "vulnerable."
To boot, China's watching closely at how the U.S. navigates Ukraine, given its own interests in Taiwan, Bolton said.
When asked if he feels the U.S.'s concessions could end the war in Ukraine, Bolton said it'll be successful for Russia, particularly given the failures of the Biden administration in arming Ukraine.
"The surrender's going to be signed by Donald Trump," he said.
Bolton concluded that former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, confirmed Wednesday as Trump's director of national intelligence — and who has been accused of parroting Russia propaganda in the past — couldn't make Putin "happier." She'll prove "harmful" for national security and allies will think twice before passing along intelligence to the United States, he said.
"They're drinking vodka straight out of the bottle in the Kremlin tonight. It was a great day for Moscow," he said."
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