Bolton: 'Trump asked Chinese President Xi for help in re-election'

Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to help him win back the elections in 2020 by promising tariff discounts if he purchased crucial American agricultural products for his electoral base. And when the Beijing leader agreed, he called him "the greatest leader in Chinese history", ignoring all human rights issues, from the anniversary of Tiananmen Square to the persecution of the Uyghurs. It is one of the bomb revelations of "The Room Where It Happened", the book by former National Security Adviser John Bolton that the Trump Administration wants to block before its bookstore release on June 23. But it is not the only one, according to the previews of the US media.

"It is difficult for me to identify a Trump decision during my stay in the White House that was not dictated by re-election calculations," Bolton writes, stating that the impeachment investigation should have investigated the president not only for his pressure on 'Ukraine, but also for other episodes, including his speeches on criminal and non-criminal investigations, "to do personal favors to the dictators he liked", citing cases of large Chinese companies (Huawei and Zte).

"The picture looked like an obstruction of justice as a way of life," writes the former adviser, although many note that he should have testified in Congress instead of getting a two million dollar contract for the book.

Bolton also reveals other embarrassing circumstances. For example, that Trump did not know that Britain was a nuclear power, which asked if Finland was part of Russia and that the withdrawal from NATO came closer than we know. The ex of the White House then says that some councilors very close to the tycoon mocked him behind him, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. And that intelligence briefings were essentially useless, "because much of the time was spent listening to Trump rather than the other way around."

The revelations burn because they are a first-hand testimony of a former close collaborator of the tycoon, however animated by a desire for revenge for his dismissal via Twitter. That's why the Justice Department, which became the president's armed wing, sued to block the publication of the book, claiming it "contains classified information." Trump has previously said that Bolton could have "criminal problems" if he releases the book. The former adviser signed a confidentiality agreement when he entered the White House and initially submitted the manuscript for consideration by the presidency. But then, when a string of omissis arrived, he had decided to go on his way. And the book would add to another compromiser, that of Mary Trump, daughter of President Fred Trump Junior's older brother, due out in August.