Trump Campaign Says Bolton’s Claims About Xi Are ‘Absurd’

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump’s campaign dismissed reports that he asked Chinese President Xi Jinping for help with his re-election and described John Bolton, the former national security adviser who revealed the conversation in a book to be published this week, as a “disgruntled former employee.”

“I mean, it’s absurd. It’s an absurd allegation and John Bolton is just trying to sell books, that’s all there is to it,” campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said Wednesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

“What folks need to know about John Bolton is that he is now a disgruntled former employee and in order to get this book deal that he’s touting he had to agree to include classified information that he had access to when he was working in the administration,” Murtaugh said.

The New York Times published an excerpt from the book, which claims the president was “pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win.” The U.S. Justice Department earlier this week sued to block publication of the book, arguing it would compromise national security.

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