Top Trade Negotiator Denies Bolton Claim that Trump Asked Xi for 2020 Election Help

This combination of pictures created on May 14, 2020 shows recent portraits of Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump. Dan Kitwood and Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

The top U.S. trade negotiator on Wednesday pushed back against former national security adviser John Bolton’s claim that President Donald Trump sought Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s help to win re-election, saying it is “absolutely untrue.”

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer denied the allegation, which is detailed in an excerpt from Bolton’s controversial memoir, “The Room Where It Happened,” due for publication on June 23.