Bolton: Trump criticism of Liz Cheney stems from Jan. 6

Former national security adviser John Bolton suggested that former President Trump's recent criticism of former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) is less about war and more related to her voting to impeach him after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

"I do think, in Liz Cheney's case, though, there's more to this that people are not catching. And that is, his criticism of her is not based on her being a war hawk or anything else," Bolton told CNN's Kaitlan Collins in an interview Friday.

"The fact is, she voted to impeach him, after January the 6th, and he cannot get it out of his head," he added.

Cheney was just one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach the former president in 2021 following the insurrection. The former lawmaker, who lost her reelection bid in 2022 to a pro-Trump candidate, has emerged as one of his toughest critics after sitting on the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 riots.

Bolton's comments come after Trump called Cheney a "radical war hawk" and suggested she should be put into a war zone “with nine barrels shooting at her.” The rhetoric, made during a fireside chat in Arizona with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, has since spurred backlash.

Cheney, who has backed Vice President Harris in the White House race and has joined her for campaign rallies, denounced Trump's rifle comments branding her a "war hawk" in a social media post Friday.

“This is how dictators destroy free nations,” she wrote on social platform X. “They threaten those who speak against them with death.”

Trump sought to clarify his comments later Friday.

“All I’m saying about Liz Cheney is that she is a War Hawk, and a dumb one at that, but she wouldn’t have ‘the guts’ to fight herself,” he posted on Truth Social. “It’s easy for her to talk, sitting far from where the death scenes take place, but put a gun in her hand, and let her go fight, and she’ll say, ‘No thanks!'”

“Her father decimated the Middle East, and other places, and got rich by doing so. He’s caused plenty of DEATH, and probably never even gave it a thought,” the former president continued, referring to former Vice President Dick Cheney, who also endorsed Harris's presidential bid.

Harris, and her running mate Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), also pushed back on Trump's attack of Cheney, arguing that it should be "disqualifying."

Collins asked Bolton whether the GOP presidential nominee could hit someone on their foreign policy views "without using violent imagery," referencing the remarks he made about the former congresswoman.

"And that's why, notwithstanding, the comments were, were not about a firing squad directly, but about being in combat. It would be a pretty unusual situation, in the field, for one lone American soldier, suddenly to be confronted by nine enemy soldiers, pointing their rifles at her head," Bolton said.

The Hill has contacted the Trump campaign for comment.