Trump administration asks judge to block Bolton’s book
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department filed a suit Tuesday seeking to block the release of a book by former White House national security adviser John Bolton, asserting that his much-anticipated memoir contains classified material.
The moves sets up legal showdown between President Donald Trump and the longtime conservative foreign policy hand, who alleges in his book that the president committed “Ukraine-like transgressions” in a number of foreign policy decisions, according his publisher.
“The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir” is due to go on sale June 23 and has already been shipped to distribution centers across the country.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, accuses Mr. Bolton of breach of contract and asks the court to prohibit him from disclosing any information in the book or releasing it in any form.
Mr. Bolton’s attorney has said the memoir does not contain any classified material. According to his publisher, Simon & Schuster, the former national security adviser spent months revising his manuscript at the request of the White House.
But Mr. Trump told reporters Monday that it was “highly inappropriate” for Mr. Bolton to write the book.
“I will consider every conversation with me as president highly classified,” he said. “So that would mean that, if he wrote a book and if the book gets out, he’s broken the law and I would think that he would have criminal problems. I hope so.”
“Maybe he’s not telling the truth,” added the president, speaking at a White House roundtable on protecting senior citizens during the pandemic. “He’s been known not to tell the truth a lot.”
Attorney General William Barr concurred, telling reporters, “We don’t believe Bolton has gone through the process” required to clear books by government officials on topics of national security.
“He hasn’t completed the process,” Mr. Barr said.
Legal experts said they believe the White House will face an uphill battle, given long-standing precedents showing courts are averse to pre-emptively blocking publication of books on political topics.