U.S. President Donald Trump backed Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman over the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi to divert the media attention from an Ivanka Trump controversy. He also supported China's Uighur internment camps and asked President Xi Jinping to help him win the 2020 presidential election.
These explosive revelations are part of John Bolton's book, 'The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir'. Bolton was Trump's third national security adviser, whom he ousted in September last year. Here are some of the biggest revelations made in the book:
Supported bin Salman to Cover Up Ivanka Row
In October 2018, Washington Post journalist and a critic of Saudi Arabia, Jamal Khashoggi, was brutally murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. A month later, the CIA determined that crown prince Mohammad bin Salman had ordered Khashoggi's murder.
In a controversial statement on November 20, Trump let him off the hook. He said it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of the event – "maybe he did and maybe he didn't". And that U.S.A.'s "relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia".
Bolton claims in his new book that the statement was made a day after the story broke that first daughter and White House adviser Ivanka Trump sent several emails using a personal email account. "This will divert from Ivanka", Trump said then, Bolton claims. Trump added that if he read the statement in person, it will "take over the Ivanka thing".
Throughout his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump hit out at his rival Hillary Clinton for using her private email while she served as Obama's Secretary of State. Government officials are supposed to use government email accounts for government work that they could be archived.
Thought it Would be "Cool" to Invade Venezuela
Tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela have been on an all-time high since Trump assumed office. Bolton claims that Trump once said it would be "cool" to invade the country and that it was "really a part of the United States".
Didn't Know U.K. Has Nuclear Weapons, Thought Finland was in Russia
Bolton writes that in a 2018 meeting with U.K.'s then Prime Minister Theresa May, when an official referred to the UK as a "nuclear-armed nation", Trump interrupted and asked, "Oh, are you a nuclear power?" Bolton writes that the question was not intended as a joke. He also asked his then-Chief of Staff John Kelly if Finland was a part of Russia, Washington Post reported.
Uighur Camps - 'The Right Thing'
Referring to a 2019 conversation between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, where the latter explained to him why he was building the concentration camps in Xinjiang, Trump told him to go ahead with it. He thought it was the right thing to do, Bolton writes.
Asked Xi Jinping to Help Him Win 2020 Election
Bolton writes that during a conversation with Xi over the ongoing hostility between the two countries, Trump swiftly turned the topic to the 2020 U.S. presidential elections. Referring to China's economic clout, he urged his Chinese counterpart to help him win a second term.
Trump hit out at Bolton in a tweet on Thursday. He wrote that "Wacko John Bolton's" is filled with "lies & fake stories".
