On Wednesday, The New York Times revealed some of the key details alleged in former National Security Adviser John Bolton's upcoming book, which paints a picture of misconduct and corruption throughout the administration at the president's direction.
One of the key revelations, according to Peter Baker, is that Trump directly asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to buy agricultural products from states he needs to win in the 2020 election.
"Mr. Bolton ... recounts a discussion at the Group of 20 summit meeting in Osaka, Japan, last summer at which the president overtly linked policy to his own political fortunes as he asked Mr. Xi to buy a lot of American agricultural products to help him win farm states in this year’s election," wrote Baker. "Mr. Trump, he writes, was 'pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win. He stressed the importance of farmers, and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome.'"
"Mr. Bolton does not say these are necessarily impeachable offenses and adds that he does not know everything that happened with regard to those episodes but he reported them to Mr. Barr and Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel," said the report. "They should have been investigated by the House, he said, and at the very least suggested abuses of a president’s duty to put the nation’s interests ahead of his own."