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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/13/john-bolton-planned-coups-donald-trump-january-6 John Bolton, a former national security adviser to Donald Trump and before that ambassador to the United Nations under George W Bush, said on Tuesday he helped plan coup attempts in other countries. Speaking to CNN after the day’s January 6 committee hearing, Bolton said it was wrong to describe Trump’s attempt to stay in power after the 2020 election as a coup. He said: “While nothing Donald Trump did after the election, in connection with the lie about the election fraud, none of it is defensible, it’s also a mistake as some people have said including on the committee, the commentators that somehow this was a carefully planned coup d’etat to the constitution. “That’s not the way Donald Trump does things. It’s rambling from one half-vast idea to another plan that falls through and another comes up.” His host, Jake Tapper, said: “One doesn’t have to be brilliant to attempt a coup.” Bolton said: “I disagree with that, as somebody who has helped plan coups d’etat, not here, but you know, other places. It takes a lot of work and that’s not what [Trump] did. It was just stumbling around from one idea to another. “Ultimately, he did unleash the rioters at the Capitol, as to that there’s no doubt, but not to overthrow the constitution, to buy more time to throw the matter back to the states to try and redo the issue. “And if you don’t believe that you’re going to overreact, and I think that’s a real risk for the committee, which has done a lot of good work.”