Pelosi blasts Bolton for choosing 'royalty over patriotism' with a book over impeachment testimony

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday accused former national security adviser John Bolton of putting “royalty over patriotism” by publishing a tell-all book instead of testifying before Congress during the House impeachment case against President Trump.

“I don’t want to pay any money for a book that was a substitute for testifying before Congress about the well being of the American people,” Pelosi said during a press conference.

The California Democrat referred to Bolton as “arrogant” and argued Trump is “ethically unfit” and “intellectual unprepared” for the presidency.

“That doesn't seem to matter to the Republicans in the United States Senate," she said. "It didn't seem to matter to John Bolton. He chose royalty over patriotism and so he's going to make money off of his book I guess,” she said.

Pelosi addressed the lack of a House subpoena for Bolton to testify during impeachment and said the Democrats have “no regrets” about the process.

“He said he wouldn't come in. He’d only go to the Senate where he knew the Senate would not subpoena him, so this is called ‘a con’ and we are very proud of what we have done,” she said.

“It's really a sad thing because he knew that the president should be removed from office – that’s clear and he does want to keep his ties to the right wing so he does that by criticizing us. I place no value on that,” she added.

Pelosi announced that she plans to discuss the Bolton situation with House committee chairpersons “to make a judgment” on how to proceed with further oversight.

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy shared a similar view on Bolton’s book.

“It disappoints me. It looks as though he wants to make money,” he said on Thursday. “Money drives a lot of people to say a lot of things.”

McCarthy also said it’s “appalling” that Bolton didn’t allow the intelligence community to adequately “work through” the book in advance.

“I can’t believe that would go on. He [Bolton] should take a step back,” he said.