Donald Trump critic John Bolton, who served in the Republican president’s first administration as national security adviser, was on Friday subjected to FBI raids at his home as part of an investigation into the handling of classified information.
Earlier this month, when an ABC host asked Bolton whether he was worried about Trump taking action against him, he said Trump had already punished him by removing his security protection, calling it a “retribution presidency”.
During his 17 months in the first Trump administration, Bolton has locked horns with the president over Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea. Bolton’s scathing book, The Room Where It Happened, painted Trump as ignorant about foreign policy and unfit to run the federal government. Here are some of the shocking allegations levelled by Bolton in his 2020 book:
Trump unaware if UK was a nuclear power
Bolton has time and again claimed that Trump was ill-informed about geopolitical issues and once such instance was when he learnt that the President did not know that UK was a nuclear power.
The incident happened during a 2018 meeting with then UK Prime Minister Theresa May, when an official referred to Britain as a nuclear power. To this, Trump said, “Oh, are you a nuclear power?” Bolton asserts that the comment was not actually a joke.
Is Finland part of Russia?
Bolton has often pointed out that Trump’s lack of knowledge about geopolitics made his unfit for the White House. Ahead of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland’s capital Helsinki, Trump allegedly asked whether Finland was “kind of a satellite of Russia”.
Seeking Chinese help to win second term
The Room Where It Happened alleges that during the 2019 G20 summit in Japan, Trump diverted the conversation with Xi Jinping to talk about the 2020 presidential elections, pleading with the Chinese president to ensure he wins. “He stressed the importance of farmers and increased Chinese purchases of soya beans and wheat in the electoral outcome,” Bolton wrote. Trump lost the 2020 presidential elections to Joe Biden.
Uighur internment camps is ‘right thing to do’
Bolton in his book claimed that Trump approved of China’s mass incarceration of Uighurs and other minorities. Citing the interpretor, Bolton wrote, “Trump said that Xi should go ahead with building the camps, which Trump thought was exactly the right thing to do.”
Trump wanted to tweak US constitution and serve for more than 2 terms
Bolton also alleged that during his conversation with Xi, Trump said he wants to amend the constitution so that he can serve more than two terms.
“One highlight came when Xi said he wanted to work with Trump for six more years, and Trump replied that people were saying that the two-term constitutional limit on presidents should be repealed for him,” wrote Bolton in his book. “Xi said the US had too many elections, because he didn’t want to switch away from Trump, who nodded approvingly.”
Trump’s personal favours to dictators like Erdogan
Bolton alleged that Trump was ready to do personal favours for dictators like Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by meddling in criminal probes. Citing the example of a US investigation into a Turkish company flouting Iran sanctions, Trump reportedly said he would “take care of things”.
Democrats did not do enough to impeach Trump
In The Room Where It Happened, Bolton said the Democrats committed “impeachment malpractice” by focusing only on Ukraine issue. The Democrats had alleged that Trump wanted to pause Ukraine military aid to force Kyiv into launching probe against Joe Biden, a claim that Bolton agrees to. However, he pointed out their failure to broaden the scope of the investigation led to Trump dodging the impeachment charges.
