The Room Where It Happened

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The cover of the book (original edition 2020)

The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir (in German about "The room in which it happened. Memories from the White House"; announced German title: The room in which everything happened . Notes of the former security advisor in the White House ) is the title of a book by the former National Security Advisor John R. Bolton published on June 23, 2020 by Verlag Simon & Schuster about his work in 453 days under President Donald Trump .

prehistory

In late December 2019, a copy of the manuscript was made available to the White House for review before publication. At the end of January 2020, during the impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump in the Senate , the book was first publicly reported. Copies of the manuscript were also made.

The Trump administration tried to prevent the book from being published, but Federal Judge Royce C. Lamberth refused.

content

Most of the time, Donald Trump is characterized in the book as incompetent and unsuitable for the office of US President.

Cover of the German edition, Das Neue Berlin 2020.

Some excerpts were already known before the publication. Trump is said to have asked Chinese President Xi Jinping for help with his re-election. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is said to have promised to end the investigation against Halkbank . Bolton is also said to have claimed in the book that Trump asked if Finland was part of Russia and if the UK was a nuclear power . Regarding the relationship between Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo , Bolton wrote that the latter was considering his resignation in December 2018. According to the author, Benjamin Netanyahu is said to have expressed skepticism behind closed doors about Jared Kushner's peace plan for the Middle East , as political heavyweights such as Henry Kissinger have already failed in this area .

reception

The South Korean President Moon Jae-in let it be known through his office criticism of Bolton's memoirs. Regarding the summit between the US and the two Koreas, the memoirs do not give facts, but rather Bolton's own perception. This is distorted and wrong. Furthermore, he had unilaterally disclosed sensitive information from diplomatic meetings and thereby violated the basic idea of ​​diplomacy. This could pose serious problems for future talks. Spokesman Chung Eui-yong hopes the US will take action to prevent such internal disclosure from happening again. Seong Yeon-cheol of the left-wing liberal Hankyoreh wrote that the memoir showed Bolton at all times sabotaging South Korea's peace efforts with North Korea. In addition, Bolton's book reveals very negative views of Moon Jae-in. The conservative Chosun Ilbo , on the other hand, published an article that Bolton's memoirs showed that the summits were merely hypocrisy. In addition, Moon's dealings with North Korea are criticized.

US officials condemned the book: Mike Pompeo called Bolton a "traitor" for writing and publishing the book. Peter Navarro compared the work to a revenge porn based on the suspected, but denied by Bolton, dismissal of Bolton by Trump . Trump himself called him a "liar" and promised a police investigation.

Some reviews in the English-language media showed uproar over Bolton's report. David Ignatius wrote in the Washington Post on June 18, 2020, “As much as you think you know about the arrogance, vanity, and sheer incompetence of Trump's time in the White House, Bolton's report will still amaze you ... No wonder the White House was so determined to prevent this book. ”On June 18, 2020, the New Yorker described the book as“ a damning and enlightening report ... indispensable, spectacular and concrete ”. The Guardian wrote on June 17, 2020: "Bolton's bomb-hitting book shows: It is still possible to be shocked by Trump's presidency."

In a review by Klaus Brinkbäumer in the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit on June 23, 2020, the author describes the memoir as “a cowardly, stupid book”. In addition, he suspects that the publication was primarily due to financial motives due to the large advance payment for “the terrible book”.

German edition

The German rights to the work were auctioned at the end of June 2020 by the Eulenspiegel publishing group in Berlin , which published the German edition under the title Der Raum, in der alles Happen. Recordings of the former security advisor in the White House in the translation by Shaya Zarrin, Patrick Baumgärtel and others brought onto the market on August 14, 2020 by Verlag Das Neue Berlin.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Room Where It Happened . 2020, ISBN 978-1-982148-03-4 ( simonandschuster.com [accessed June 22, 2020]).
  2. ^ Bob Brigham: Bolton book leaked after the White House made copies of the single manuscript they were given: report. Retrieved June 21, 2020 (American English).
  3. ^ Emily Jacobs: Bolton Lawyer implies that White House leaked book manuscript. In: New York Post. January 27, 2020, accessed June 21, 2020 (American English).
  4. ^ The Associated Press: Judge: Bolton Can Publish Book Despite Efforts to Block It . In: The New York Times . June 20, 2020, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed June 21, 2020]).
  5. ^ Paul LeBlanc CNN: New York Times: Bolton wrote he was concerned Trump was granting favors to autocratic leaders. Retrieved June 21, 2020 .
  6. Eric Lipton, Alan Rappeport: Bolton Book Puts New Focus on Trump's Actions in Turkey and China Cases . In: The New York Times . January 28, 2020, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed June 21, 2020]).
  7. Peter Baker: Bolton Says Trump Impeachment Inquiry Missed Other Troubling Episodes . In: The New York Times . June 17, 2020, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed June 21, 2020]).
  8. Timothy R. Homan: Bolton book puts spotlight on Pompeo-Trump relationship. June 21, 2020, accessed on June 22, 2020 .
  9. a b Lloyd Green: The Room Where It Happened review: John Bolton fires broadside that could sink Trump . In: The Guardian . June 21, 2020, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed June 22, 2020]).
  10. Cheong Wa Dae says much of Bolton's memoir on Korea 'distorted,' urges US govt. to address such 'dangerous' case. In: The Korea Herald . Yonhap , June 22, 2020, accessed June 22, 2020 .
  11. ^ Seong Yeon-cheol: Bolton sabotaged the Korean Peninsula peace process at every opportunity. In: The Hankyoreh . June 24, 2020, accessed June 25, 2020 .
  12. N. Korean Summits Were a Sham. In: Chosun Ilbo . June 23, 2020, accessed June 25, 2020 .
  13. David Ignatius: Book Review of The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir by John Bolton. Retrieved July 13, 2020 .
  14. ^ Susan B. Glasser: John Bolton's Epic Score Settling. Retrieved July 13, 2020 .
  15. Julian Borger: Bolton's book shows it's still possible to be shocked by Trump's presidency. Retrieved July 13, 2020 .
  16. A bunch of cowards. In: The time . June 23, 2020, accessed June 23, 2020 .
  17. The room in which everything happened - Das Neue Berlin - Eulenspiegel Verlagsgruppe. Retrieved August 19, 2020 .