John Bolton snaps at Jake Tapper for asking about Trump’s defense of Kim Jong-un: ‘My opinion doesn’t matter’
National Security Advisor John Bolton grew combative on CNN on Sunday morning when asked to defend President Donald Trump's assertion that he believed North Korea strongman Kim Jong-un was not responsible for the death of American student Otto Warmbeir after he had been tortured while in captivity.
Speaking with 'State of the Union' host Jake Tapper, Bolton said he felt North Korea should conduct an investigation into the death of Warmbeir, but balked at getting into Jong-un's complicity.
Playing video of Trump defending the North Korean leader, saying, "I don't believe he would have allowed that to happen. I'll take him at his word," host Tapper pressed Bolton.
"He's going to take Kim Jong-un at his word he didn't know about it," Tapper remarked. "The Warmbier family put out a statement saying Kim Jong-un is responsible."
"The president made it very clear he considers what happened to Otto Warmbeir an act of brutality that's completely unacceptable to the American side," Bolton parried. "The fact is, the best thing North Korea could do right now would be to give us a full accounting of what happened and who was responsible for it."
"Do you take Kim Jong-un at his word?" Tapper pressed.
"The president takes him at his word," Bolton shot back, to which Tapper replied, "What about you?"
"My opinion doesn't matter. My opinion is that I--" Bolton snapped as the CNN host interrupted.
"You're national security adviser to the president -- your opinion matters," Tapper protested.
"I'm not the national security decisionmaker, that's his view," Bolton fired back.
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