Former US official admits to helping plan coups in other countries

Former US national security advisor John Bolton admitted that he has helped plan coups in other countries on Tuesday.

"As somebody who has helped plan coups d'etat, not here, but, you know, other places, it takes a lot of work," he said when debating with CNN's Jake Tapper on television if former US president Donald Trump was capable of planning a coup on Jan 6, 2021.

Bolton said it would be a mistake to claim the former president orchestrated a "carefully planned coup d'etat" aimed at the Constitution.

Bolton served in the US Departments of Justice and State during three Republican administrations, starting with Ronald Reagan's in the 1980s.

Bolton advocated for US military intervention in Venezuela during his post, and kept pushing for the US invasion of Iraq and was supportive of bombing Iran and the DPRK, AFP reported.

Xinhua and AFP contributed to this story.