Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused John Bolton Thursday of lying in his forthcoming book about his stint at the White House, calling the former national security adviser a “traitor who damaged America.”
“I’ve not read the book, but from the excerpts I’ve seen published, John Bolton is spreading a number of lies, fully-spun half-truths, and outright falsehoods,” Pompeo said in a statement released Thursday evening with the headline, “I Was In The Room Too.”
The title is a spoof of Bolton’s memoir, “The Room Where It Happened.”
In the book, which is scheduled for release June 23, Bolton accuses President Donald Trump of abusing his power by attempting to strike deals with several foreign leaders aimed at helping his re-election chances. Bolton also alleges that Pompeo frequently bad-mouthed Trump behind his back, according to The New York Times.f
Bolton wrote that during a meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2018, Pompeo slipped Bolton a note saying of Trump: “He is so full of shit.”
John Bolton, national security advisor, from right, Jim Mattis, U.S. secretary of defense, and Mike Pompeo, U.S. secretary of state, listen during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, in the Cabinet Room of the White House May 17, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images)
Pompeo went further in his statement, accusing Bolton of betraying his country.
“It is both sad and dangerous that John Bolton’s final public role is that of traitor who damaged America by violating his sacred trust with its people,” he said in the statement.
“To our friends around the world: you know that President Trump’s America is a force for good in the world,” Pompeo said.
The Trump administration sued Bolton on Tuesday to delay the release of the book, saying that it contained a slew of classified information. The lawsuit has not stopped portions of the book from becoming public. Bolton released an excerpt of a chapter from his book about China on Wednesday through The Wall Street Journal. (RELATED: Chris Wallace Dismissed John Bolton’s Book As ‘A One-Week Story’)
In the excerpt, Bolton alleged that Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping during a June 2019 meeting in Japan to buy soybeans and other crops from American farmers in order to help his reelection prospects. Bolton also claimed that Trump supported Xi’s use of concentration camps against Uighurs, a Muslim minority in China.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer responded Wednesday to Bolton’s claim about Trump’s plea to Xi to purchase agriculture products. He testified that he was in the meeting in question and that Bolton’s allegation was “completely crazy.”
Trump accused Bolton in interviews Wednesday of lying about his White House tenure.
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