Justice Department launches inquiry into Bolton’s book
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into whether President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton unlawfully disclosed classified information when he published a memoir this summer, a case that the department opened after it failed to stop the book’s publication, according to three people familiarwith the matter.
The department has convened a grand jury, which issued a subpoena for communications records from Simon & Schuster, publisher of Bolton’s memoir, “The Room Where It Happened.”
The Trump administration had sought to stop its publication, accusing Bolton in a lawsuit of moving forward with publication without receiving final notice that a prepublication review to scrub out classified information was complete.
The director of national intelligence referred the matter to the Justice Department last month, two of the people said.
John Demers, head of the department’s national security division, then opened the criminal investigation, according to a person briefed on the case.
Bolton has denied that he published classified information.
Bolton’s account of his time working for Trump and his efforts to get the book published set off a furor. He confirmed elements of the Ukraine scheme that prompted impeachment, wrote that the president was willing to intervene in criminal investigations to curry favor with foreign dictators and said he sought China’s help in winning reelection.
Trump has made clear he wants his former aide prosecuted.
Lawyers for the National Security Council and the Justice Department expressed reservations about opening a criminal case, in part because Trump’s public statements made it seem like an overtly political act, according to two officials briefed on the discussions. Others noted that a federal judge this summer said Bolton may have broken the law and that the case had merit.
US reputation: The international reputation of the United States has declined further in the wake of its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to new research Tuesday from the PewResearch Center.
In some of the 13 countries surveyed, favorable views of the U.S. have fallen to record lows. Pew started polling on the topic nearly two decades ago.
Although the international image of the U.S. has been in decline since President Donald Trump took office in 2017, Pew found it has been dented further by what is perceived to be a badly handled response to the pandemic.
Pew found that a median of just 15% of respondents say th eU.S. has done a good job during the crisis.
There have been nearly 6.6 million confirmed infections and over 195,000 U.S. deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Trump aide’s apology: A Trump health appointee who used his position to launch political attacks and is accused of trying to muzzle
a government publication apologized Tuesday for a video in which he reportedly disparaged scientists battling the coronavirus and warned of violence after the presidential election.
Michael Caputo, the top spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, apologized to his staff for the Facebook video, said an administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.
The case of Caputo, a President Trump loyalist and former New York political operative, has become the latest distraction for a White House still struggling to define its coronavirus response.
News reports alleged last week that his office tried to muzzle a scientific weekly published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Then on Monday came an account of a video on Caputo’s personal Facebook page in which he accused government scientists of conspiring against Trump and suggested “shooting” could break out after the Nov. 3 election.
Election spending: President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign says it is ramping up advertising spending in battleground states, a move that comes as some of his allies have grown worried because Democrat Joe Biden has outspent him in recent weeks.
The Trump campaign announced the “eight-figure” ad buy Tuesday, but declined to say specifically
how much will be spent in states that include Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Maine virus toll: At least seven people have died in connection to a coronavirus outbreak that continues to sicken people in Maine following a wedding reception held over the summer that violated state virus guidelines, public health authorities said.
The August wedding reception at the Big Moose Inn in Millinocket is linked to more than 175 confirmed cases of the virus, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
Maine authorities have identified overlaps between
the wedding reception and outbreaks elsewhere in the state. An employee of the York County Jail attended the wedding, Maine CDC officials have said. Maine health officials have also said a staff member from a Madison rehabilitation center, which is the site of six of the seven deaths, attended the event.
Melania Trump statue: A bronze statue representing U.S. first lady Melania Trump was unveiled Tuesday in her native Slovenia to replace a wooden one that was set on fire in July.
The new sculpture is a replica of the original one and placed near Trump’s hometown of Sevnica, in central Slovenia. The original statue was torched by unknown arsonists July 4.