John Bolton in USA Today

On Free Trade: Trump's China trade deal focused on re-election help

The request was made during the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. In Bolton's book, the former adviser paints the president as someone consumed with winning a second term and willing to pressure, cajole and plead with foreign powers to aid his quest.

'Trump's conversations with Xi reflected not only the incoherence in his trade policy but also the confluence in Trump's mind of his own political interests and U.S. national interests,' Bolton writes according to an excerpt published in the Wall street Journal. 'Trump commingled the personal and the national not just on trade questions but across the whole field of national security.'

On Principles & Values: Declined impeachment testimony due to "personal involvement"

Bolton, national security adviser from April 2018 until Sept. 2019, was a central figure in the Senate impeachment trial of Trump following the House's decision to forward two charges to the Senate for consideration: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. After Bolton didn't appear voluntarily before a House impeachment hearing in November, his lawyer told the investigating committees that his client was 'personally involved' in meetings relevant to the inquiry into whether Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine for political reasons.