Bolton critique of Trump could define tell-all book battles

WASHINGTON ( AP) — The White House fight with former national security adviser John Bolton is the latest chapter in a lengthy history of Washington book battles, yet it will likely define future cases between the U.S. government and former employees determined to write tell-alls. The government asked a federal court for a temporary restraining order to prevent the release of the book, claiming it contains classified material. But the book, set to be released Tuesday, is already sitting in warehouses. And media outlets, including The Associated Press, have obtained advance copies and published stories on the book.

The 577-page book paints an unvarnished portrait of Trump and his administration. Bolton writes that Trump “pleaded” with China’s Xi Jinping during a 2019 summit to help his reelection prospects and that political calculations drove Trump’s foreign policy.

Trump on Thursday called the book a “compilation of lies and made up stories” intended to make him look bad. He tweeted that Bolton was just trying to get even for being fired “like the sick puppy he is!”

The two sides are set to face o Friday in U.S. District Court in Washington, adding Bolton’s name to a long list of authors who have clashed with the government over publishing sensitive material. Bolton filed a motion late Thursday to dismiss the government’s complaint.

“The Government cannot plausibly argue that Ambassador Bolton has power to stop the Amazon delivery trucks in America, unshelve the copies in Europe, commandeer the copies in Canada, and repossess the copies sent to reviewers or in the possession of major newspapers,” Bolton’s court filing says. The government says Bolton violated a nondisclosure agreement in which he promised to submit any book he might write to the administration for a prepublication review to ensure government secrets aren’t disclosed.

After working for months with the White House to edit, rewrite or remove sensitive information, Bolton’s lawyer says his client received a verbal clearance from classification expert Ellen Knight at the National Security Council. But he never got a formal clearance letter, and the Trump administration contends that the book, titled “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,” still contains sensitive material.

The case “has the makings of being the defining litigation for nondisclosure agreements for decades,” said Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law expert at George Washington University who has handled cases involving classified materials for decades. “Both sides have now dug in.”

The White House has tried to use the firestorm sparked by the book to its advantage, as it looks to animate the president’s loyal base of supporters against the media and Democrats. White House aides have circulated quotes from both groups critical of Bolton in an e ort to highlight what they view as a sudden embrace of the departed aide now that he’s turned critical of Trump.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lashed out at Bolton in a statement late Thursday, declaring him a “traitor.”

“I’ve not read the book, but from the excerpts I’ve seen published, John Bolton is spreading a number of lies, fully-spun half-truths, and outright falsehoods,” Pompeo said. “It is both sad and dangerous that John Bolton’s final public role is that of a traitor who damaged America by violating his sacred trust with its people.” The White House insists that classified material remains in the Bolton book even though he worked on revisions for months with Knight. The government said in its court filing that after Knight finished her review, the White House ordered a second review to be done by Michael Ellis, a political appointee who has been senior director for intelligence on the National Security Council since March and previously was the NSC’s deputy legal adviser.

“The fact that the White House wanted multiple, sequential reviews is way out of the ordinary and it suggests the obvious point that there is a political motivation at work,” said Steven Aftergood, a classification expert at the Federation of American Scientists.

Ellis began his review of the Bolton book on May 2 at the behest of national security adviser Robert O’Brien. The lawsuit said Ellis has had “original classification authority” since 2017, allowing him to make decisions to classify material.