US Trade Rep Shoots Down Bolton’s Claim That Trump Asked China for Help in the Election

In his new book, former National Security Advisor John Bolton alleges that President Donald Trump spent part of a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping “pleading” for help in the upcoming presidential election.

An excerpt of the book, published by The Washington Post, on Wednesday claimed that Trump “stressed the importance of farmers, and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome” in his meeting with Xi.

But, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer says he was in that meeting and that Trump never asked Xi for help in the upcoming 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 roughly an hour after the Post published the excerpt.

Bolton’s book “The Room Where It Happened,” set to be released on June 23, is being billed by its publisher as “the book 👤Donald Trump doesn’t want you to read.”

And it is expected to show that “Trump’s Ukraine-like transgressions existed across the full range of his foreign policy.”

Speaking to reports on Monday, Trump suggested that Bolton’s book might contain falsehoods, “Maybe he’s not telling the truth, he’s been known not to tell the truth, a lot.”

After Bolton refused to testify in the impeachment effort against Trump, his book has become a source of controversy as lawmakers have blasted him for putting salacious and potentially impeachable offenses in a book, but not testifying.

Some Democratic impeachment managers blasted Bolton for not testifying during the impeachment process:

Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers questioned whether Bolton was telling the truth in his book:

Despite efforts to stop its release, Bolton’s lawyers have said they plan to publish it next week.