Trump sought Xi's help with re-election: Bolton

US President Donald Trump tried to get his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to help him secure re-election, according to claims made in ex-National Security Adviser John Bolton's new book.

Bolton says Trump wanted China to buy agricultural produce from US farmers, according to details of the forthcoming book previewed by US media.

He also says Trump "remained stunningly uninformed on how to run the White House".

The Trump administration is trying to block the book from hitting shelves.

Bolton's 577-page tome, The Room Where It Happened, is due to go on sale on 23 June.

But on Wednesday night, the Department of Justice sought an emergency order from a judge to stop the book's release.

The publisher, Simon & Schuster, said in a statement: "Tonight's filing by the government is a frivolous, politically motivated exercise in futility."

It said hundreds of thousands of copies of the book have already been distributed around the world and the injunction would accomplish nothing.

Meanwhile, Trump called in to a Fox News programme and said of Bolton: "He broke the law. This is highly classified information and he did not have approval."

"He was a washed-up guy," the president added. "I gave him a chance."

The foreign policy hawk joined the White House in April 2018 and left in September the following year, saying he had decided to quit as the national security adviser. President Trump, however, said he had fired Bolton because he disagreed "strongly" with him.

(Source: BBC)