Trump used Huawei as a ploy in his reelection strategy, according to John Bolton's explosive new book

• Former Trump security adviser John Bolton claims in his explosive new book that President Trump used Huawei as a part of his strategy to forge a trade deal with China.
• Bolton said securing a trade deal with China was part of Trump's re-election strategy, and that he pleaded with Xi Jinping to ensure he'd win the 2020 election.
• The Department of Justice is trying to block Bolton's book from publication and Trump tweeted it is full of "lies & fake stories."

Donald Trump used Huawei as a pawn in his plan to get reelected in 2020, according to the explosive new book by former national security adviser John Bolton.

In an excerpt from "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir," published in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, Bolton claims Trump approached perceived security threats from Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE as bargaining chips in the US-China trade war.

Bolton writes that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and others "repeatedly pushed to strictly enforce US regulations and criminal laws against fraudulent conduct, including both firms' flouting of US sanctions against Iran and other rogue states."

But Trump saw these legal measures as something to negotiate with the Chinese premier Xi Jinping.

Bolton continues: "Trump, by contrast, saw this not as a policy issue to be resolved but as an opportunity to make personal gestures to Xi Jinping [...] In 2019, he offered to reverse criminal prosecution against Huawei if it would help in the trade deal—which, of course, was primarily about getting Trump reelected in 2020."

Bolton's account tallies with public signals from the Trump administration that Huawei was a bargaining chip in the trade talks.

In May 2019, one week after placing Huawei on a trade blacklist, Trump publicly said Huawei could be part of a trade deal despite being "something that is very dangerous." The US has consistently accused Huawei of acting as a proxy for the Chinese government and spying on the US, which Huawei denies.

Bolton makes broader accusations in his book about Trump's conduct during the US-China trade war, saying he pleaded with China's president Xi Jinping to buy US agricultural products to help with his 2020 election strategy.

The Justice Department filed an emergency restraining order against Bolton's book on Wednesday seeking to block its publication, claiming it compromises national security. Trump lashed out against Bolton in an interview with Fox News and in a late-night tweet on Wednesday, saying the book was "made up of lies & fake stories."