Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton won't say if he plans to use any of the $7 million raised by two political action committees to run for president in 2016, saying that he is focused on helping conservatives win election in the House and Senate on Nov. 4.
"I'm not [running for president] at this point, and I haven’t really focused on it," Bolton said in an interview broadcast Sunday on
"The Cats Roundtable" on New York's AM 970.
Politico last week reported that the John Bolton PAC and the John Bolton Super PAC had together raised $6.5 million.
Bolton told host John Catsimatidis he is focusing on candidates in the House and Senate "who believe in a strong American foreign policy" and who "recognize a strong American presence in the world is critical to maintaining our way of life here."
Bolton is also on the campaign trail, stumping in New Hampshire for the House candidates Marilinda Garcia and former Rep. Frank Guinta. His super PAC is backing former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown against Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire among other efforts.
Bolton also addressed news broken by The New York Times last week that chemical weapons were found in Iraq in the early years of the ground war, but never reported on.
Bolton said the story is relevant today as the United States continues to worry about chemical weapons in the hands of Syria and about nuclear weapons in the hands of North Korea and potentially Iran.
"It's important to be serious about weapons on mass destruction," he said, adding that the issue should be a focus of the election in last two weeks.
Bolton also warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin will "redouble his efforts" to take control of Eastern Europe while President Barack Obama is still in office.
"Putin has sized up Obama as a weak leader and has taken advantage of him repeatedly," Bolton said. "I'm very worried that Putin, who can read a calendar … sees that Obama has two more years in office, and he will redouble his efforts during that period to get what he wants from the Ukraine and other former republics of the Soviet Union, and other [former Soviet satellite nations]."
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