President Donald Trump dismissed on Monday his former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s claims in his forthcoming book about withholding aid to Ukraine.
“False,” Trump replied shortly when asked by reporters at the White House about the allegations.
Trump spoke to reporters at the White House during a visit with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu on Monday.
Bolton reportedly claims in his book that Trump expressed his desire to withhold aid to Ukraine until they were willing to announce an investigation into the corrupt Ukranian energy firm Burisma Holdings and former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden’s position on the board.
Trump said that he had not seen the manuscript of the Bolton book, as details of it were leaked to the New York Times.
“I haven’t seen a manuscript, but I can tell you nothing was ever said to John Bolton,” Trump said. “I guess he’s writing a book. I have not seen it.”
The White House National Security Council (NSC) confirmed that it received Bolton’s manuscript for review but that no one else in the White House had seen it.
“Ambassador Bolton’s manuscript was submitted to the NSC for pre-publication review and has been under initial review by the NSC,” spokesperson John Ullyot said in a statement to reporters. “No White House personnel outside NSC have reviewed the manuscript.”
The president also denied the allegations on Twitter early Monday morning.
“I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens,” Trump wrote. “In fact, he never complained about this at the time of his very public termination.”
…transcripts of my calls with President Zelensky are all the proof that is needed, in addition to the fact that President Zelensky & the Foreign Minister of Ukraine said there was no pressure and no problems. Additionally, I met with President Zelensky at the United Nations…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2020
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