ALI SMILED:

Often hailed as a lawyer, scholar and diplomat, Bolton is something else--a Republican. He volunteered for Barry Goldwater's doomed 1964 campaign during his youth. He is so strident a free marketeer that he even told Edward Luce of the Financial Times in 2007 that he identified as a "libertarian." While his foreign policy says otherwise, he's not going over to a political party on second base with socialism.

What Bolton needs now is an old favorite: regime change. He needs the Trump presidency to end. This has spurred the rumor du jour in America's capital city, that Bolton is somehow behind the leaks that have led House Democrats to launch an impeachment inquiry into Trump.

A former senior National Security Council official told me that after early Trump administration leaks, the White House took extraordinary means to ensure state secrecy. The New York Times in recent weeks detailed just how elaborate these measures were, and just how closed the circle around Trump is--at least as it pertains to seeing or hearing any details of what the president says to foreign leaders by phone.

The cloud of suspicion around Bolton is enormous. A former senior administration official characterized Bolton as "THE witness for the prosecution." That the scandal has now ensnared Pompeo, his friend-turned-enemy who listened in on the call with Ukraine's president, is just the cherry on top. Pompeo is vying to be Henry Kissinger as Democrats look to create more John Ehrlichmans.

Which all begs the question: Is John Bolton Deep Throat?

Tweet   @brothersjudd