Mnuchin rebuffs Bolton claim Treasury was afraid of sanctions

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin rejected John Bolton’s assertion in a new book that he’s afraid of imposing economic sanctions on adversaries, noting that President Donald Trump has made frequent use of the tool in his foreign policy.

“We’ve done more sanctions under President Trump in this administration than the previous administrations combined,” Mnuchin said late Monday in a Fox Business interview. “For John Bolton to say that I or the president or the Treasury Department were weak on sanctions is ridiculous.”

In a book set to be released Tuesday, Trump’s former national security adviser says that Mnuchin repeatedly advised against sanctions on Venezuela, China, Russia and Iran out of fear that other nations would stop using dollars and that the stress on the global financial system would be too great.

Bolton alleges that Mnuchin’s “foot-dragging” in ramping up sanctions on Venezuela “was equivalent to throwing Maduro a lifeline,” ultimately helping President Nicolas Maduro’s regime survive an attempt to overthrow his government in April 2019.

An advance copy of Bolton’s book, “The Room Where It Happened,” was obtained by Bloomberg News.

When it came time for the administration to withdraw from a nuclear deal with Iran, Bolton claims Mnuchin sought ways to mitigate the impact of sanctions on the nation. The Treasury chief said Bolton’s book is “full of inaccuracies.”

“When it comes to Iran, the president, myself and Secretary Pompeo were 100% aligned,” he said. “Yes, it’s true that John Bolton was not necessarily 100% aligned. Let me tell you, it was the president’s policy, not John Bolton’s policy.”

Trump has called Bolton’s book a “compilation of lies” but also says it contains classified material that should not have been released. The government made an unsuccessful 11th-hour legal effort to block its publication last week.

The president has threatened on Twitter that by publishing, Bolton will have “bombs dropped on him!”

“He didn’t like me and obviously didn’t like the president, because from day one, he disagreed with the president’s strategy,” said Mnuchin, adding that he has only read excerpts of the book.