Ex-National Security Advisor John Bolton says Vivek Ramaswamy reminds him of Trump and blasts both GOP candidates over their foreign policy acumen: 'They might as well be in kindergarten'

• John Bolton criticized Vivek Ramaswamy and Donald Trump over recent comments regarding Ukraine.
• Bolton pushed back against Ramaswamy's idea to cede territory in eastern Ukraine to Russia.

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton on Tuesday blasted Vivek Ramaswamy over the GOP presidential contender's idea to cede territory in eastern Ukraine to Russia in exchange for Moscow agreeing to sever their military alliance with Beijing, comparing the candidate unfavorably to his onetime boss, former President Donald Trump.

During an interview on "CNN This Morning," Bolton — who served in the Trump administration from April 2018 to September 2019 — the defense hawk said that Ramaswamy reminded him of the former president.

"I think Ramaswamy reminds me an awful lot of Donald Trump," Bolton said in response to Ramaswamy expressing a need for facts in order to call Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal. "He has very firm opinions on subjects he knows absolutely nothing about and this was an example of it."

Ramaswamy recently told CNN that the International Criminal Court, which in March issued an arrest warrant for Putin, would be equipped to deal with the Russian leader.

"I think that Putin is a dictator, and I think that there are open questions that need to be adjudicated by the [ICC]," Ramaswamy said. "We have an [ICC] for a reason."

Bolton while on CNN then focused again on remarks made by Ramaswamy and Trump regarding Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"The main point is that Ramaswamy has made other points about this war and about what he's going to do to try and solve it," Bolton said. "Like Trump said, he would put Zelenskyy and Putin in a room and have it solved in 24 hours. Ramaswamy is going to go to Moscow, convince Putin to break the alliance with China, and end the war that way."

"They may as well be in kindergarten talking about a very complex situation, but there's no mistake that Ramaswamy emulates Trump every time he can," he added.

Since leaving the administration, Bolton has been a fierce critic of Trump.

In May, Bolton mocked the former president's belief that he is respected by world leaders.

"Trump has this impression that foreign leaders, especially adversaries, hold him in high regard — that he's got a good relationship with Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un," Bolton said of the leaders of China, Russia, and North Korea, respectively during a CNN interview.

"In fact, the exact opposite is true," he continued at the time. "I have been in those rooms with him when he met with those leaders. I believe they think he's a laughing fool and the idea that somehow his presence in office would have deterred Putin is flatly wrong."