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Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton joins Iain Dale to discuss the Secret Service response to the attempted attack at the White House Correspondents' Association gala dinner. Bolton also touches on Trump’s reaction and the growing strain between Washington and Keir Starmer’s government, as King Charles III arrives at the White House. Later, US-based journalist Stefanie Bolzen gives a firsthand account from inside Saturday's dinner were an attempted attack. Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp #iaindale #statevisit #royalvisit #uspolitics #politics #kingcharles #keirstarmer #starmer #specialrelationship #LBC LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK. Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/ Sign up to LBC’s weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
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0:00
One of the questions that we're asking you is, should this state visit really have gone ahead, given the security concerns that there clearly were in Buckingham Palace and in Number 10 Downing Street after the events on Saturday night
0:11
Delighted to say that Ambassador John Bolton joins me, former U.S. National Security Advisor during the first Trump administration and also former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
0:21
Ambassador, welcome to the programme. Good to talk to you again. If you had still been national security advisor now, what would you have been saying to the president about how things, how it came to pass on Saturday night and the performance of the security services
0:39
And indeed, what advice would you have given about the state visit
0:44
Well, I think there's clearly a need to review Secret Service procedures
0:48
You know, like anybody else, they can fall into a pattern. I've been to this dinner in years gone by, and it didn't look to me like the security checks were much different from what they had been in the past
1:01
And repetition, obviously, is a way for people to learn how to get around the practices that they see
1:07
So I think it's incumbent on the Secret Service to be constantly updating
1:12
And so some kind of review here to increase people's confidence in their skills is necessary
1:18
There's a very dedicated group of people, but I think force of habit works with them
1:24
unfortunately, as it does with everybody. In terms of the King's visit, I wouldn't have recommended any change
1:30
I think, obviously, the target here was the president. The King's main events, certainly in Washington, are all on U.S. government property, at the
1:40
White House, in Congress, in the, well, not U.S. government property, but at the British
1:46
embassy out in the garden, where I think security will be very tight. His schedule elsewhere in the
1:51
country I'm not that familiar with, but I'm sure security will be very high
1:57
The president was, I thought, comparatively diplomatic for him in the immediate aftermath
2:04
praising the security services for their prompt action. Do you think for once he was being very
2:09
diplomatic and that behind the scenes, he will have been asking some very searching questions
2:14
I suspect that's right. Although, if you know the particular venue at the Washington Hilton Hotel, this gunman was a long way from doing any damage to the president. I think, obviously, the protective bubble worked. He was able to penetrate it in ways that have to be investigated
2:32
But the point of having multiple layers of security is nobody really believes there's one foolproof method to do it
2:39
And again, it worked. And thank goodness there were no deaths and only one minor injury
2:47
How do you think this will affect Donald Trump personally? Because obviously he's had the attack in Pennsylvania not that long ago where his ear was grazed
2:58
I mean, came within, well, a few millimeters of being shot. And there have been a couple of other incidents
3:07
How does that affect someone psychologically do you think Well I think it certainly must have an effect His reaction Saturday night was it shows how consequential a president I am because so many people have tried to attack me
3:21
And his immediate reaction was to say, this shows why you have to build this ballroom at the White
3:26
House that I want. In fact, the ballroom is a non sequitur. Most of the rallies that Trump loves
3:31
so much are far more dangerous, as the Butler Pennsylvania incident showed, than being in a
3:37
secure environment like a hotel ballroom. But there's no doubt anybody who comes that close
3:45
as he did Butler is going to be affected by it. And obviously, there's so much going on in the world now, which you would have views on. I know
3:54
you've got to go very shortly. But just one word on the Iran situation. The Iranians have come up
4:01
with what they're purporting as a sort of a new plan, but it doesn't involve them stopping
4:07
enriching uranium, but it does involve opening the Strait of Hormuz. What would be your advice
4:12
to the president from what you know of this new plan? Well, I would say reject it out of hand
4:19
Any day that the Iranian regime can push back discussions on their nuclear program is a day
4:24
that's plus for them. I think this whole ceasefire is a benefit to them. They were the ones getting
4:30
pounded. They were the ones seeing their leadership being decimated. And that's not happening. They're
4:36
not able to export oil, which is bad for them. But the Gulf Arabs can't export oil either
4:41
So I think the president's got to make up his mind whether he's prepared to use military force
4:45
to clear the Strait of Hormuz. I think that is necessary. You can't leave this in the hands of
4:51
the Iranian regime like a light switch that they can turn on or off. He may not like that. He's got
4:57
a lot of political difficulties at home to worry about. I think that's what's primarily on his mind
5:02
And it's too bad if he had thought this out more carefully, if he had prepared more carefully
5:07
I think we could be on the way to regime change or at least significant change in Iran's capacity to threaten terrorism
5:16
threaten the nuclear weapons and threaten the closure of the Strait of Hormuz
5:21
Just in 30 seconds, can the special relationship be rebuilt through this visit because it's clearly been damaged
5:28
Well, I think the special relationship is much broader than just the relationship between
5:33
the political leaders, between the president and the prime minister. It rests on shared values
5:39
a shared history, a shared interest, culture, language. I mean, I could go on at length
5:45
Obviously, the relationship between Trump and Starmer is about as bad as it can get
5:49
I think King Charles, I think the president wants to have the king
5:53
have a successful visit. I think that's very important. And let's face it
5:57
Keir Starmer may not be prime minister that much longer. Maybe we'll get a restart with
6:01
a new prime minister. Ambassador, thank you very much. A pleasure as always. That's Ambassador
6:07
John Bolton there talking to us. Right. It's now my great pleasure to introduce my next guest
6:13
live in the studio with me in Washington, D.C. Great friend from her days as London correspondent
6:18
for Die Welt in, well, how many years was it, Stephanie? Ten years
6:23
Ten years It the voice of Stephanie Boltsen She is now North America editor for the German newspaper Die Welt and you were at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday Just take us through
6:35
your own experience. Yeah, indeed. It was very nice to see you, Ian, really. It was maybe half
6:42
an hour into the dinner. We just got our starters and I was sitting in the middle of the room
6:48
and I was facing on my left hand the entrance doors and on the right hand the stage where the president was
6:55
and the vice president. And this flag, you know, they're carrying the flags around
7:01
they sing the anthem and the flags, and they had just gone out. And suddenly I heard this pock, pock, pock
7:08
And really, it sounds crazy, but I thought, am I back in Britain? Because sometimes when the king comes in, they make this pock, pock, pock
7:15
and it came from the entrance doors. I thought, is this another performance
7:18
And in that very split seconds, the door opens and like a half a dozen of men in suits come running in
7:27
And I just hear, get down, get down. And then I knew, this is not another performance
7:33
This is a shooting. So we just dived under the tables with my colleagues and some officials and waited
7:43
And it was, I mean, I was just thinking, what's happening out there
7:47
Is there maybe someone being hurt? I know that was my main thought
7:51
And also, of course, for a little moment I thought, hopefully it's not like Bataclan, like Paris 2015
7:58
There are lots of attackers. But then I thought, hey, the US president is here
8:03
Secret Service is here. It's probably just one guy and we are safe
8:09
So if you were under the table then, you wouldn't have seen the Secret Service people
8:14
bundling J.D. Vance out and then the president? No, I didn't, because I had someone from the Pentagon with me, and he was adamant that we stayed down
8:23
So he was outside. It was kind of all the girls were under the table. I'm not joking. And all the men were around us and they didn't let us come out
8:32
But of course, I was I was itching to get my phone and do something. Yeah, being a journalist, you were a journalist, but I wasn't allowed
8:37
Apparently, there was one journalist who refused to get under the table and just carried on eating his starter
8:42
I don't know who that was. There were several people I saw who just kept on eating and were watching what was going on
8:49
I didn't, and I thought it was the cautious thing to do and take shelter
8:54
So looking back on it now, I mean, it must have been, I mean, were you frightened
9:02
I was a little bit frightened. I was more upset. I was upset that this was happening again
9:08
I was upset of thinking what might be the damage being caused
9:14
I was upset because, yeah, what is happening in this country that there's so much political violence
9:19
and that even at an event where the president is now in being the president
9:25
unlike Butler in 2024, that this can happen and somebody can come so close and cause so much damage
9:32
That was my main thought. So how long have you been in Washington? A couple of years
9:36
Three years. Three years? Yes. How time flies What have you learned about this country that you didn know before in those three years That Americans are very different very different So I was not a big expert on the United States before I came here
9:52
I became an expert of the Brits, of course. I spent a lot of time there. But I learned that you can't understand the country unless you go out
10:00
You have to travel a lot and you find all kind of people who have a very different view on how government should work, how Washington works
10:11
This is such a vast country. They want to have their gun. They want to have their liberty
10:16
They want to make their choices, whatever they are, and don't want to be told by anyone to do something
10:22
And the other thing I really learned is how many people look at Europe thinking this is really a doomed place
10:30
On the other hand, I have a lot of friends, especially in Washington, who think Europe is the place to be
10:35
And somehow I'm not sure anymore where the place to be is
10:39
And obviously we're obsessed about the relationship between our country and the U.S
10:43
You're writing about, presumably, the relationship between Germany and the U.S. And your new chancellor, Friedrich Mautz, he's incurred Donald Trump's wrath a little bit as well, hasn't he
10:53
He has. But interestingly, I mean, I'm talking quite a lot to officials for the time being
10:58
and you have to be very careful about it. Germany is the blue-eyed boy because of the defense spending
11:05
I can really say that the UK currently is in very bad books
11:09
There's a lot of anger here in Washington about the UK, about Keir Starmer, about dithering
11:14
They thought it's a special relationship. They thought that Britain from the beginning would support them in the Iran war
11:22
And yeah, there is... I'm not only Donald Trump in the White House says
11:28
Salma is not Churchill. I really also hear that behind closed doors. And what are your expectations for this visit
11:34
Because in a way, the King's mission is to try and at least start to repair
11:38
the so-called special relationship. It's an impossible task, isn't it? Yes, it is
11:43
I think, of course, it will be wonderful. And the president, as we know, he loves the Roy family
11:48
He loves these kind of events. It's another show for him to have
11:52
but then you go back to the day-to-day and the British government is in a very different place
11:58
and there are domestic politics needs by the Prime Minister and for the time being that doesn't match
12:04
what the US President expects from the UK. And of course in Germany I always think
12:09
a lot of the magazines, certainly when I lived in Germany admittedly a long time ago, they were obsessed with the royal family
12:16
because obviously you don't have a royal family and I think it's a bit like America. You kind of adopt ours in a strange sort of way
12:23
So the king, I mean, the queen was always box office in Germany. Is the king to the same extent
12:28
Here in the U.S.? No, in Germany. In Germany? Well, I'm not living in Germany anymore
12:33
But, I mean, the queen was the queen. That's different. And, of course, there were so many good stories in between Charles and Diana, Harry and Meghan
12:40
And the king is, of course, he is respected. But I think the queen was just something so unique and so historic
12:47
and to be fair to the king it's very hard to take over from the queen
12:53
Stephanie I wish we had longer but thank you very much indeed for joining us here in Washington DC
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