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

On Civil Rights: Trump put human rights violations second to China trade

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: Trump pushed for loosening sanctions against Russia

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 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 Government Reform: Trump agrees that America has too many elections

'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 Principles & Values: Trump offered personal favors to foreign dictators

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 Principles & Values: OpEd: Wrote book instead of testimony at impeachment hearing

Trump's overwhelming level of corruption and ignorance did not motivate Bolton to go to Congress when the body was investigating the president, as an anti-extremism advocate noted on Twitter. 'Friendly reminder that John Bolton, instead of telling Congress what he knew while they were holding impeachment proceedings, wrote a f---ing book.'

On Principles & Values: Trump sought help from China in upcoming re-election

According to the excerpt of Bolton's book published by the Wall Street Journal, Trump asked China to use its economic power to help him win a second election.

In one instance, Trump and President Xi Jinping were discussing hostility to China in the US. 'Trump then, stunningly, turned the conversation to the coming US presidential election, alluding to China's economic capability and pleading with Xi to ensure he'd win,' Bolton writes.

'He stressed the importance of farmers and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome. I would print Trump's exact words, but the government's prepublication review process has decided otherwise.'

On War & Peace: Supported 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."