Trump committed other ‘Ukraine-like transgressions’, new John Bolton book alleges

Memoir will delve into former national security advisor’s time in White House

Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton (Getty)

Former national security adviser John Bolton‘s forthcoming book will include descriptions of President Donald Trump‘s “inconsistent, scattershot decision-making,” driven by “reelection calculations” rather than national security, according to a news release from the book’s publisher.

‘’I am hard-pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my tenure that wasn’t driven by reelection calculations,’’ Mr Bolton writes, according the description Simon & Schuster distributed Friday morning.

“What Bolton saw astonished him: a president for whom getting reelected was the only thing that mattered, even if it meant endangering or weakening the nation,” the news release said.

The longtime conservative foreign policy hand also argues in the book that House Democrats “committed impeachment malpractice” by focusing their inquiry on Ukraine, according to the publisher.

“Trump’s Ukraine-like transgressions existed across the full range of his foreign policy – and Bolton documents exactly what those were, and attempts by him and others in the Administration to raise alarms about them,” the Simon & Schuster news release states.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The new details about the book came just days after Mr Bolton’s attorney said he was pushing ahead with the June 23 publication of his memoir, despite a new warning from the administration that it contains classified material and needs to be further revised.

The 592-page book, “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,” is expected to go into detail about Mr Trump’s decision-making process, his warring advisers and the president’s engagement on a range of foreign policy decisions, from Ukraine and Venezuela to North Korea and Iran.

Simon & Schuster said Friday that Mr Bolton’s “substantive and factual account of the period from 9 April 2018 to 10 September 2019, when he had nearly daily communications with the President” will include detailed accounts of Mr Trump’s actions.

The release also asserts that “Trump directed the seizure of and withheld his personal and other unclassified documents, despite numerous requests for their return.”

Mr Bolton’s lawyer, Charles Cooper, received a letter Wednesday from a White House lawyer, John A Eisenberg, warning him that the book contains classified material and needs to be revised.

The letter said Mr Bolton would be provided with a redacted manuscript by 19 June, four days before the book is to go on sale, 23 June.

In response, Mr Cooper said his client scrupulously complied with national security requirements and expects his book will be available to the public as planned.

Mr Cooper provided a lengthy response to Eisenberg’s letter detailing Bolton’s efforts since last December to vet the manuscript. Both Mr Bolton and Mr Cooper have said they are confident the manuscript does not contain classified material.

Simon & Schuster has already shipped copies to warehouses around the country in preparation. The White House has not said what it would do if Mr Bolton’s book is published without further redaction.