John Bolton takes pass on White House bid

John Bolton announced Thursday that he is not running for president, but vowed to make sure that national security issues are front and center in the 2016 campaign.

Mr. Bolton, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under George W. Bush, said Thursday that he flirted with the idea of a bid, but ultimately decided it was not feasible.

“I will not seek the Republican nomination,” he said.

Mr. Bolton was viewed as a long shot to win the nomination race, which already includes: Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas; Rand Paul of Kentucky; and Marco Rubio of Florida; Ben Carson; former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina; and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is set to announce whether he will run again on May 27 and former New York Gov. George Pataki said Thursday that he make his decision public during a May 28 event in New Hampshire.

The 66-year-old also has been an ardent critic of the Obama administration’s approach to foreign affairs — pointing to the way it has handled Russia’s meddling in Ukraine, Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon and the growing threat of global terrorism.

Mr. Bolton also says that Mr. Obama has turned his back on Israel.

In a March New York Times op-ed, Mr. Bolton said that if Iran gets a nuclear weapon it will lead to an arms race in the Middle East and said that “only military action” — not economic sanctions or diplomacy — will block Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“The inconvenient truth is that only military action like Israel’s 1981 attack on Saddam Hussein’s Osirak reactor in Iraq or its 2007 destruction of a Syrian reactor, designed and built by North Korea, can accomplish what is required. Time is terribly short, but a strike can still succeed,” he said.

He also has warned against the GOP embracing the more restrained foreign policy views of Mr. Paul, who he labeled the 2016 contender a “neo-isolationist.”

Mr. Bolton also flirted with a presidential bid in 2012. Since then, he established a political action committee and super PAC that helped congressional candidates that he felt were strong on foreign policy in the 2014 elections, where Republicans flipped control of the Senate.

He further fueled speculation that he might run by making several trips to Iowa and New Hampshire, hosts of the opening nomination contests. He also formed the Foundation for Security and Freedom, a nonprofit group that that aims to restore and protect America’s vital national security interests and preserve America’s way of life.”