Donald Trump in The Room Where It Happened, by John Bolton

On Civil Rights: No crackdown on China for repressing Falun Gong or Catholics

Trump had no problem with China's concentration camps: Bolton describes several instances where Trump waffles on China-related issues after conversations with Xi, notably on the mass concentration camps Beijing was using to imprison and 're-educate' Uyghur Muslims. Bolton writes that according to the US interpreter in the room during a conversation between Xi and Trump at the G-20 meeting in June 2019, Trump said that Xi should go ahead with building the camps, which Trump thought was 'exactly the right thing to do.' Bolton adds that Trump didn't wan

On Foreign Policy: No US statement criticizing Russian invasion of Georgia

After the US announced a first round of sanctions on Russia for poisoning former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK, Bolton said Trump wanted to rescind the penalties and thought they were being too tough on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

'Trump told Pompeo to call Lavrov and say 'some bureaucrat' had published the sanctions -- a call that may or may not have ever taken place,' Bolton wrote.

Bolton also claimed Trump stopped the issue of a statement criticizing Russia on the tenth anniversary of its invasion of Georgia. The former national security adviser writes that these actions were a reflection of Trump's 'difficulty in separating personal from official relations.'

On Foreign Policy: End investigations of Turkish state-owned banks

In May 2018, Bolton writes that Turkish President Erdogan handed Trump a memo claiming that the state-owned bank Halkbank, which was under investigation by the Justice Department, was innocent. 'Trump then told Erdogan he would take care of things, explaining that the Southern District prosecutors were not his people, but were Obama people, a problem that would be fixed when they were replaced by his people,' Bolton writes.

Bolton writes that he scheduled a meeting with Attorney General Bill Barr in 2019 to discuss Trump's alleged enthusiasm for doing favors for autocrats, and that Barr agreed that he was worried about the appearances created by Trump's behavior.

On Foreign Policy: Uighur concentration camps are the right thing to do

'At the opening of the Osaka G-20 meeting in June 2019, with only interpreters present, Xi had explained to Trump why he was basically building concentration camps in Xinjiang,' Bolton wrote. 'According to our interpreter, Trump said that Xi should go ahead with building the camps, which Trump thought was exactly the right thing to do. The National Security Council's top Asia staffer, Matthew Pottinger, told me that Trump said something very similar during his November 2017 trip to China.' [According to leaked Communist party documents, at least 1 million Uighur Muslims are detained in the camps.]

On Foreign Policy: Did Saudis kill journalist? World is a dangerous place

Trump made headlines in November 2018 when he released a bizarre statement defending the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. It included lines such as 'The world is a very dangerous place!' and 'maybe he did and maybe he didn't!'

According to Bolton's book, making headlines was the point. A story about his daughter Ivanka using her personal email for government business was also in the news at the time. After waging war on Hilary Clinton during the 2016 campaign for doing the same thing, Trump need a distraction. 'This will divert from Ivanka,' Trump reportedly said. 'If I read the statement in person, that will take over the Ivanka thing.'

On Foreign Policy: No involvement in Hong Kong protest or Tiananmen anniversary

'I hoped Trump would see these Hong Kong developments as giving him leverage over China. I should have known better,' Bolton continues. 'That same month, on the 30th anniversary of China's massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, Trump refused to issue a White House statement. 'That was 15 years ago,' he said, inaccurately. 'Who cares about it? I'm trying to make a deal. I don't want anything.' And that was that.'

On Free Trade: China should buy more American farm products

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 War & Peace: Canceled missile strike on Iran for drone shoot-down

As the New York Times described the passage: "You can sense Bolton's excitement when he describes going home 'at about 5:30' for a change of clothes because he expected to be at the White House 'all night.' It's therefore an awful shock when Trump decided to call off the strikes at the very last minute, after learning they would kill as many as 150 people."