Mr. Trump broadly defended his handling of foreign policy issues in an interview, including his decision to reverse penalties on Chinese companies as part of his trade negotiations. He denied giving Mr. Xi approval for Uighur camps in China and sharply criticized Mr. Bolton.

“He is a liar,” Mr. Trump told The Wall Street Journal, adding that “everybody in the White House hated John Bolton.”…

Mr. Bolton is critical of many members of Mr. Trump’s senior staff: Nikki Haley, then the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, operated like a “free electron” who “was motivated by her desire not to get hammered in the press.” Mr. Pompeo’s overriding philosophy in managing the State Department was “conflict avoidance.” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin forcefully weighed in on foreign policy decisions even when “he manifestly had no idea what he was talking about.” Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis “knew how to flatter with the best of them” but “was no debater.”

Senior White House adviser and Mr. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, according to the book, was involved in “international negotiations he shouldn’t have been doing”—a view Mr. Bolton says was shared by other foreign leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Netanyahu was “dubious” about Mr. Kushner taking on Middle East peace and “wondered why Kushner thought he would succeed where the likes of Kissinger had failed,” Mr. Bolton writes.