John Bolton book claims Trump ‘pleaded with China’s President Xi to help him win 2020 election’
PRESIDENT Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to help him win the 2020 election, according to former national security adviser John Bolton.
Trump suggested to Xi during the 2019 G20 Summit in Japan that China could have an impact on the election by buying more US agricultural products, according to an excerpt from Bolton's memoir, published in the Washington Post.
Last night , telling the Wall Street Journal: "He is a liar ... everybody in the White House hated John Bolton.”
He also called Bolton a "a washed-up guy" who broke the law" in a separate interview with Fox.
The book and the claims made in it are especially shocking considering Bolton is a conservative who has spent decades working in Republican administrations.
"The United States is not seeking to censor any legitimate aspect of Defendant's manuscript; it merely seeks an order requiring Defendant to complete the prepublication review process and to take all steps necessary to ensure that only a manuscript that has been officially authorized through that process - and is thus free of classified information - is disseminated publicly," the filing reads.
Bolton's attorney denies that the book contains any classified material, and claims that it underwent a strict review process, according to the Washington Post.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Trump called the book "highly inappropriate" and said that Bolton would have "a very strong criminal problem" if the book is published.
Trump gave Bolton the boot from his national security adviser position last fall.
The two apparently had disputes over how to handle foreign policy changes in Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan.
The new book is expected to shed some light on how the president really dealt with foreign countries.
In his Monday comments, Trump questioned his former security adviser's credibility.
"If he wrote a book and if the book gets out, he's broken the law and I would think you would have criminal problems. I hope so," Trump said. "If this guy is writing things about conversations or about anything - and maybe he is not telling the truth. He's been known not to tell the truth, a lot."