President Donald Trump's top national security aide John Bolton on Monday praised Britain's supporters of Brexit, saying their vote to break with the European Union represented a stand in defense of national sovereignty.
"God bless the people of Great Britain who two years ago voted to get out of the European Union," Bolton said in a speech defending sovereign laws over multinational organizations.
Bolton made the comment during a speech in which he declared that the United States would not place its laws and policies below the power of the International Criminal Court, the human rights body in The Hague.
He said that approach underscored the broader principles of the administration of President Donald Trump, who has been deeply critical of the European Union.
"If the European Union wants to dissolve national sovereignty into the bureaucracy in Brussels, that's entirely their prerogative, and others are free to do it as well," Bolton said.
However, he noted, in the Trump administration's ongoing trade negotiations, "there's no desire on our part for something akin to the European Union."