Constitutional law attorney Jenna Ellis Rives was speaking after Trump asked for Mr Bolton’s resignation and announced his removal from office. Mr Bolton had been accused by officials in Iran and Venezuela of being the person behind Trump’s hawkish foreign policy. Ms Rives explained: “This is not unprecedented, whatsoever, for a President to ask for the resignation of a high top level advisor because we have to remember this is just an advisory capacity and this is not something unprecedented.
“Nixon fired his entire cabinet during his administration – this is not even something to that level.”
Richard Nixon appointed a new Vice-President, Secretary of State, two Treasury Secretaries, a Defence Secretary, two Attorney Generals, a Commerce Secretary, a Labor Secretary, a Health Secretary, a Transportation Secretary, a Chief of Staff, an EPA Administrator and Office of Management Director in his last year as POTUS whilst dogged by the Watergate scandal.
Indeed, the only role in Mr Nixon’s Cabinet mohave only one holder was Postmaster General Red Blount but Mr Blount’s role was removed from Cabinet in 1971.
His successor Ted Klaassen survived the entire rest of the Mr Nixon presidency.
Ms Rives insisted: “So to make this out to be some sort of Palace intrigue, I think is fully overblowing it, certainly there was no secret in the media that Trump was dissatisfied with Bolton but that’s his prerogative as President and to paint this as somehow ‘he doesn’t have a strategy’ is simply untrue and is simply trying to paint the narrative of President Trump that is somehow just inconsistent with the media’s caricature of other pair administrations”.
Trump tweeted: “I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House.
“I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration, and therefore I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning.
“I thank John very much for his service.”
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Mr Romney and running mate Paul Ryan ultimately lost out in the election to Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
Mr Bolton was coincidentally a summer intern for Mr Nixon’s first Vice-President Spiro Agnew in 1972, when he was 23.
He had worked for several decades an as an attorney.
Mr Bolton would work in the governments of Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush.
Months after the younger Mr Bush coined the term “Axis of Evil” to refer to North Korea, Iran and Iraq, Mr Bolton, then Under-Secretary of State would give a speech called “Beyond the Axis of Evil”.
In it he called for Cuba, Libya and Syria to be included in the grouping.
A New York Times piece said speculation to Mr Bolton’s replacement was already raging.
Suggestions included Fred Fleitz, former Chief of Staff to Mr Bolton,Keith Kellogg, former acting national security advisor, Jack Keane, an advisor to Mike Pence and Robert C. O’Brien, the administration’s hostage envoy.