Bolton, in an interview with Post opinions editor at large Michael Duffy, said the former president came close to pulling the United States out of NATO in 2018, a claim he originally made in a memoir published in 2020. In his book, Bolton wrote that he had to convince Trump not to quit NATO in the middle of a 2018 summit.

On Friday, Bolton, who served as a top Trump adviser from 2018 to 2019, offered more details on their conversations that day, saying he "had my heart in my throat at that NATO meeting."

"I didn't know what the president would do," Bolton said. "He called me up to his seat seconds before he gave the speech. And I said, look, go right up to the line, but don't go over it. I sat back down. I had no idea what he'd do."
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"In a second Trump term, I think he may well have withdrawn from NATO," Bolton said. "And I think [Russian President Vladimir] Putin was waiting for that."

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday responded to Bolton's comments, saying they highlighted "another reason the American people are grateful -- the majority of the American people -- that President Biden has not taken a page out of his predecessor's playbook as it relates to global engagement and global leadership, because certainly we could be in a different place. I mean, there's no question that the strength and unity of NATO has been a powerful force in this moment," Psaki added.