Bolton appeared on The Lead after Tuesday's hearing and said that the events at the Capitol were terrible and directly inspired by Donald Trump. He added that nothing Trump has done since January 6 is "defensible" either, but told Tapper that he doesn't believe it was a coup.

"None of it is defensible," said Bolton. "It's also a mistake, as some people have said including on the committee, the commentators, that somehow this was a carefully planned coup d'état aimed at the Constitution. That's not the way Donald Trump does things."

He said you have to understand that Trump rambles from one thing to another, "one plan that falls through and another comes up," suggesting that it's beyond Trump's capacity to craft any grand scheme.

"It's not an attack on our democracy. It's Donald Trump looking out for Donald Trump," he said. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence."

Tapper objected to that characterization.