Donald Trump’s former national security advisor John Bolton releases a new book describing his White House tenure. Bolton, who refused to testify during the President’s impeachment inquiry, has decided to lay out a plethora of shocking allegations in a manuscript that’s already set to become a bestseller. Donald Trump and the Department of Justice attempt to block the book’s drop on June 23, arguing it breaches confidentiality and contains sensitive, classified information.
Among other issues, Bolton described Trump’s willingness to seek Chinese President Xi Jinping’s help to secure reelection in 2020. The president had allegedly stressed the importance of Midwestern farmers to his presidential run, promising Xi Jinping to waive some tariffs on China in return for China buying more soybeans and wheat from the U.S. Moreover, according to Bolton, Mr. Trump had no problem with mass concentration camps in Beijing, calling them the “right thing to do”.
The book also describes a head-turning instance in December 2018, when Trump had allegedly offered to help Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with a probe into a Turkish bank Halkbank regarding a suspected violation of US Iran sanctions. According to his former national security advisor, Trump called the Southern District prosecutors "Obama people” that have to be replaced.
As the New York Times reported in 2019, referencing John Bolton’s draft manuscript, Donald Trump also told Bolton to continue the Ukraine military aid freeze until the country helped with investigations into Burisma and Vice President Joe Biden. It remains a mystery if the Ukrainian story was left out of the book during the review process, or if we are going to see new revelations on June 23.