18th June, 2020
U.S. President Donald Trump has turned a laughing stock as more excerpts from John Bolton’s book spilled onto the streets.
One of the disclosures by Bolton in the explosive book was that Trump thought Finland was part of Russia
Another was that Trump was unaware the UK was a nuclear power.
According to the 577 page book, The Room Where It Happens, Trump was alleged to have made the embarrassing comments about British military capability at a meeting with former PM Theresa May two years ago.
Mr Bolton, who worked in the White House for 17 months, said the president was “stunningly uninformed”.
Mr Bolton’s book is due to go on sale next week – but the Trump administration is trying to block its publication.
In a tweet, the president described the book as “made up of lies and fake stories”.
According to one excerpt, the UK’s nuclear arsenal came up during a meeting with Mrs May in 2018, when it was mentioned by one of the then-prime minister’s officials.
According to the book, Mr Trump said: “Oh, are you a nuclear power?” Mr Bolton said he could tell it “was not intended as a joke”.
Mr Bolton left the White House in September 2019, saying he had quit as national security adviser. Mr Trump however said he had fired Mr Bolton because he disagreed “strongly” with him.
Nine countries currently have nuclear weapons: the US, UK, Russia, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea.