Thread by @benrileysmith

**Thread**
So many jaw-dropping allegations in the John Bolton book.

Wash Post, NY Times and Wall St Journal have all seen copies.

Here’s a list of just some of the most explosive reported claims...

:: Trump urged the Chinese president to help get him re-elected, indicating buying more from US farmers.

:: Trump told President Xi building concentration camps for Muslims "was exactly the right thing to do"

[*all according to reports of Bolton book]
2/

:: Trump offered to halt criminal investigations “to, in effect, give personal favors to dictators he liked”

:: Trump said invading Venezuela would be “cool” and it was “really part of the United States”

[*all according to reports of Bolton book]
3/

:: Trump told Chinese president people wanted 2-term limit repealed for him + nodded when Xi said US had too many elections

:: Bolton feared “obstruction of justice as a way of life” emerging + reported concern to attorney general

[*all according to reports of Bolton book]
4/

:: Trump did not realise Britain was a nuclear power

:: Trump asked if Finland was part of Russia

:: Trump refused to issue statement marking 30yr anniversary of Tiananmen Sq, saying “who cares”

[*all according to reports of Bolton book]
5/

:: Sec of State Mike Pompeo passed a note to Bolton during North Korea talks saying of the president: “He is so full of s***”

:: John Kelly when chief of staff once said “you can’t imagine how desperate I am to get out of here”

[* all according to reports of Bolton book]
6/

:: Trump kept trying to give Kim Jong-un an autographed copy of Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’ on CD.
(Because of the nickname)

:: Some of the gifts Trump wanted to give Kim broke his own government’s sanctions on North Korea

[*all according to reports of Bolton book]
7/

:: Putin compared the Venezuelan oppo leader claiming the presidency (Juan Guaido) to Hillary Clinton to sway Trump. Bolton says Trump was ‘largely persuaded’

:: Trump compared Guaido to a “kid” who was weak vs “strong” Madura

[*all according to reports of Bolton book]
8/

:: Trump made his big statement on Khashoggi killing (a bit below) to ”divert” attention from Ivanka’s use of personal email for gov work

:: Trump said some journalists should be jailed to reveal their sources. Or just “executed”.

[*all according to reports of Bolton book]
9/

:: Trump threatened to “walk out” of Nato and “not defend” those not paying enough unless defence spending increased in 2018

:: Trump has asked people if he should swap Mike Pence for Nikki Haley as Vice President for 2020 campaign

[*all according to reports of Bolton book]
10/

:: Pompeo thought Trump’s N Korea diplomacy had “zero probability of success” a month after the Kim summit in 2018

:: John Kelly worried what would happen if a “real crisis like 9/11” hit given the way Trump makes decisions

[*all according to reports of Bolton book]
11/

Could go on and on and on.

This Bolton quote on Trump from the Washington Post story sticks out.

“He second-guessed people’s motives, saw conspiracies behind rocks, and remained stunningly uninformed on how to run the White House, let alone the huge federal government.”
12/

Needless to say but should be stressed again that all of the above are allegations by Bolton.

There has been no immediate comment from Trump, the White House, Pompeo, Kelly, or the wider Trump admin.

In all likelihood there will be some very strong push back / denials.
13/

We’ve got a write-up of the best of the book as reported today on the @Telegraph website over here.

A full breakdown of what’s been claimed and analysis of what it all means coming.
14/
telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/06/1…

And all the credit goes to the 3 US publications who got the early copies and published details.

Read their stories here...

NYT
nytimes.com/2020/06/17/us/…

WashPo
washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…

WSJ
wsj.com/articles/john-…

*end*