With Bolton’s book due out soon excerpts are already being printed in the media, with one claiming that Trump begged China’s President Xi to help him win election by purchasing more soybeans and wheat from US farmers. But US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer says the claim is “absolutely untrue”:
THE HILL – U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Wednesday denied a claim by former national security adviser John Bolton that President Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping for help winning the 2020 election.
“Absolutely untrue. Never happened. I was there. I have no recollection of that ever happening. I don’t believe it’s true. I don’t believe it ever happened,” Lighthizer said at a Senate Finance Committee hearing.
Less than an hour earlier, The Washington Post ran an excerpt from Bolton’s upcoming book, in which the former Trump administration official claims that Trump made the request for electoral help from Xi during a one-on-one meeting at the Group of 20 summit in Japan in June 2019.
Trump, Bolton wrote, turned the conversation to “China’s economic capability to affect the ongoing campaigns, pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win.”
“He stressed the importance of farmers, and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome. I would print Trump’s exact words but the government’s prepublication review process has decided otherwise,” the excerpt in the Post read.
Lighthizer said he was at the meeting in question and disputed Bolton’s account.
The funny thing is that Bolton is getting hit from all sides on the release of this book.
Republicans are upset that he would be this disloyal after being given a top job in the White House, and so soon after his tenure in the White House:
Multiple Republicans largely shrugged off Bolton’s claims, reasoning that the former national security adviser had an ax to grind with his former boss.
“$2 million. Apparently that’s all it took for John Bolton to sell off what little credibility he had left,” Rep Doug Collins (R-Ga.) tweeted, referencing the reported worth of Bolton’s book deal.
Democrats, on the other hand, are pissed that Bolton refused to testify during Trump’s impeachment and kept quiet only so he could sell a tell-all book.
Democrats fumed over the new information Wednesday, pointing to Bolton’s prior refusal to testify before the House during impeachment hearings unless a judge ordered him to do so.
“When Bolton was asked, he refused, and said he’d sue if subpoenaed. Instead, he saved it for a book,” tweeted Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who oversaw most of the impeachment hearings as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
“Bolton may be an author, but he’s no patriot,” Schiff added.
Despite how upset these Democrats are, I assure you they’ll gladly use whatever Bolton gives them now in order to keep Trump from winning the election. They’ll sing about every controversy from the rooftops and the media will gladly help them do it.