One of Donald Trump’s legal battles heads to the Supreme Court on Thursday, but Trump himself won’t be there for it ― and one of his former advisors is calling him out over it.
“I think he’s chickening out here,” John Bolton told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins earlier this week as the high court gets ready to hear arguments in a case that could potentially keep Trump off the ballot.
Bolton, who served as national security adviser under Trump but has since turned into a critic, said he thinks his former boss is “overawed” by the Supreme Court.
“I think, in this case, he’s worried that he’s outnumbered nine to one,” he said. “It’s not just some district judge somewhere, some state court judge in New York. This is the Supreme Court.”
Trump appointed three members of the court, but Bolton said he didn’t think that would matter when it comes time for the justices to decide the case.
“I think he’s going to be disappointed in them,” Bolton predicted.
The court on Thursday will take up the case involving Colorado’s attempt to keep Trump off the Republican primary ballot, saying he is disqualified under the 14th Amendment’s “insurrection clause” given the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol carried out by his supporters.
That case could have repercussions around the country and potentially keep him off the general election ballot in November as well.
See more of Bolton’s conversation with Collins below: