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WSJ excerpt of Bolton book has Trump & China bombshells. Trump told Xi building concentration camps for Muslims "was exactly the right thing to do.” Trump pleaded w/ Xi to help him w/ re-election by making US farm product buys. And Trump helped Xi w/ ZTE. wsj.com/articles/john-…
2. Bolton details on Trump using China policy for re-election raises questions about @SecPompeo meeting quietly today in Hawaii w/ Chinese official Yang Jiechi. People ask: 1) Will they discuss farm goods purchases to help Trump? 2) Dirt on Hunter Biden? 3) Huawei & Meng Wanzhou?
3. Bolton book shows how Xi plays Trump. How many other autocrats do this? What do Putin & Erdogan say to him? At a Dec. 2018 dinner in Buenos Aires: "Xi said the U.S. had too many elections, because he didn’t want to switch away from Trump, who nodded approvingly."
4. Bolton book should also make us reexamine all the praise Trump heaped on Xi over China's handling of the coronavirus. It seems Trump wanted the trade deal to stick for reelection & believed whatever Xi said about the outbreak. Now 120,000 Americans are dead. See this tweet.
5. Details from Bolton book excerpt on how Trump caved to Xi on trade in order to get minor farm purchases from China to secure farm-state votes. Note how all the Chinese officials "perked up and smiled" when Trump said Kushner would help w/ negotiations. wsj.com/articles/john-…
6. Trump ❤️ Xi: "Xi agreed that we should restart the trade talks, welcoming Trump’s concession that there would be no new tariffs....'You’re the greatest Chinese leader in 300 years!' exulted Trump, amending that a few minutes later to 'the greatest leader in Chinese history.'"
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Edward Wong
@ewong
.@SecPompeo just released long statement denouncing bad-faith propaganda that China uses against US in current crises. This came hours after our @nytimes story on propaganda by autocrats, global erosion of US moral authority & the struggle of US diplomats: nytimes.com/2020/06/06/us/…
2. Pompeo accurately lists many rights abuses by the Chinese Communist Party, far greater than occurs in the US. But he doesn’t acknowledge the extraordinary # of recent incidents of violence against journalists in US — possibly at least 280, CPJ says: cpj.org/2020/06/cpj-bo…
3. Pompeo mentions US street violence 3 times, in line w/ Trump's messaging. He talks about church burning, "looting and violence," & "reckless rioting." By contrast, he nods to "peaceful protests" in US once. @AmbDana says diplomats can embrace the peaceful protests as models.
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Edward Wong
@ewong
NEW: Top Trump officials take harder actions on China during pandemic — cutting US investments, scientific collaboration and infrastructure purchases. Xi & Communist Party play tough too. Ties are at lowest point in decades. w/ @AnaSwanson. Story & thread. nytimes.com/2020/05/01/us/…
2. Pompeo leads senior aides in asking spy agencies to keep looking for proof supporting an unsubstantiated theory that a lab accident in China led to the pandemic. Agency analysts say they likely won't find it & fear distortion of assessments. More here: nytimes.com/2020/04/30/us/…
3. White House aides prodded Trump this week to sign an executive order blocking a retirement fund, the Thrift Savings Plan, from investing in Chinese cos. Trump is weighing it. That's part of a wider move to prevent opaque or shadowy Chinese cos. from getting American capital.
Read 8 tweets
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Edward Wong
@ewong
NEW: Did virus leak from a lab in China? Trump aides press spy agencies for a link — but analysts say they likely won’t find proof. Some worry about potential intel distortion. Trump wants focus on China. w/ @MarkMazzettiNYT @julianbarnes @adamgoldmanNYT. nytimes.com/2020/04/30/us/…
2. Trump officials are trying to find proof for the lab theory — which many scientists & some intel analysts say is unlikely — when there is obvious info on how Chinese officials covered up failures on virus. Earlier @nytimes story by @stevenleemyers: nytimes.com/2020/03/29/wor…
3. @SecPompeo has taken the lead in asking intel agencies. Pottinger has done the same on occasion. Ruggiero got frustrated at CIA during video meeting in January. Grenell convened an April 7 review to see if intel agencies could reach consensus on virus origins. They could not.
Read 7 tweets

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