Foreign policy

Buttigieg suggests Bolton shouldn't be allowed near the Situation Room

South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) suggested Sunday that national security adviser John Bolton should not be allowed near the Situation Room.

Buttigieg took aim at Bolton, suggesting that someone who was involved in the lead up to the Iraq War shouldn’t be “allowed that near the Situation Room to begin with.”

Buttigieg, who announced his presidential exploratory committee in January, did not call out Bolton by name when asked about the conflict in Venezuela, but accused him of “carelessly” floating the idea of using military force to deal with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

“The situation in Venezuela is highly disturbing. The regime lost its legitimacy,” Buttigieg said. “That being said, that doesn’t mean we carelessly threaten the use of military force, which it appeared the national security adviser was doing at one point.”

"I don’t understand how somebody leading us into the Iraq War is allowed that near the Situation Room to begin with," Buttigieg, who served in Iraq, said.