Bolton claims White House froze his Twitter account

WASHINGTON

U.S. President Donald Trump's former National Security Advisor said Friday the White House locked him out of his personal Twitter account, suggesting the action may have been taken out of concern that he might speak out.

"Re: speaking up -- since resigning as National Security Advisor, the @WhiteHouse refused to return access to my personal Twitter account," John Bolton said in his first tweets since early September.

"Out of fear of what I may say? To those who speculated I went into hiding, I’m sorry to disappoint!" he added.

Bolton did not specify which matter he was referring to, but Trump is currently facing an impeachment investigation over his repeated efforts to have Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly announce criminal probes into Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Trump's former top aide has so far declined to testify in the ongoing impeachment proceedings, and he did not explicitly say that he has changed his mind.

Bolton earlier Friday tweeted that an announcement was forthcoming, telling his social media followers to "stay tuned."

Bolton's last tweet before he began posting again was on Sept. 10, the day Trump pushed him out of office.

"I offered to resign last night and President Trump said, 'Let's talk about it tomorrow,'" Bolton posted, clashing with the president's narrative.