WASHINGTON -- More than two months before he asked Ukraine's president to investigate his political opponents, President Donald Trump directed John Bolton, then his national security adviser, to help with his pressure campaign to extract damaging information on Democrats from Ukrainian officials,
WASHINGTON — More than two months before he asked Ukraine’s president to investigate his political opponents, President Donald Trump directed John Bolton, then his national security adviser, to help with his pressure campaign to extract damaging information on Democrats from Ukrainian officials, according to an unpublished manuscript by Bolton.
The account in Bolton’s manuscript portrays the most senior White House advisers as early witnesses in the effort that they have sought to distance the president from. And disclosure of the meeting underscores the kind of information Democrats were looking for in seeking testimony from his top advisers in their impeachment investigation, including Bolton and Mulvaney, only to be blocked by the White House.
Trump also repeatedly made national security decisions contrary to U.S. interests, Bolton wrote, describing a pervasive sense of alarm among top advisers about the president’s choices. Bolton expressed concern to others in the administration that the president was effectively granting favors to autocratic leaders like Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Xi Jinping of China.
The White House has sought to block the release of the book, contending that it contains classified information. The government reviews books by former officials who had access to secrets so they can excise the manuscripts of any classified information. Officials including Trump have described Bolton, who was often at odds with Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, and Mulvaney, as a disgruntled former official with an ax to grind.
Giuliani had just successfully campaigned to have the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie L. Yovanovitch, recalled, convinced that she was part of an effort to protect Trump’s political rivals from scrutiny. Giuliani had argued she was impeding the investigations.
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