John Bolton, President Donald Trump's pick for next National Security Advisor, slammed the leaks coming out of the White House Thursday as "completely unacceptable."
Bolton's first interview after being selected by Trump was with Fox News' Martha MacCallum, who asked Bolton about Trump's phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, notes from which were leaked to the press.
Among the reported revelations were that Trump was advised not to congratulate Putin on his recent election victory but did so anyway.
Bolton said he didn't know if that had something to do with the timing of him being named to succeed McMaster.
"I recalled earlier in the administration when somebody was leaking transcripts of the president's conversations with foreign leaders, it's completely unacceptable," Bolton said. "You cannot conduct diplomacy, you cannot expect other foreign leaders to be candid and open in their conversations with the president if some munchkin in the Executive Branch decides they're going to leak the talking points of the transcript or any other aspect of it."
"I think this is really a terrible reflection on the individual or individuals who did this," Bolton added. "They should be ashamed of themselves and I think whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, a liberal or conservative, there ought to be unity on this point, that leaking of that sort is simply unacceptable."