Justice Department Sues to Delay Publication of John Bolton’s Book

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit seeking to delay the release of former national security adviser John Bolton’s memoir, The New York Times reports.

Bolton’s publisher has said his book, “The Room Where It Happened,” will be released on June 23 despite the Trump administration’s demands to stop the release. Trump and administration officials have claimed that the book contains classified information.

Trump further argued that he believes any conversation with him is “classified.”

Bolton said in a statement earlier this week that the book contains damning details about Trump’s pressure on Ukraine and issues with other countries.

The book confirms the allegations at the heart of the impeachment push against Trump, according to the Times.

DOJ sues:

The DOJ accused Bolton of failing to comply with the government review of his book, which he agreed to do in 2018.

The DOJ said that Bolton is breaking the agreement and “unilaterally deciding that the prepublication review process is complete and deciding for himself whether classified information should be made public.”

The DOJ also accused Bolton of leaking the manuscript of his book, which it said contained classified information.

Bolton submitted the manuscript to the National Security Council, which found “significant quantities of classified information,” the DOJ said.

Publisher already printed the books:

Bolton’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, has already printed and distributed the books.

The company is not named in the lawsuit.

A spokesman for the company told the Times the lawsuit is “nothing more than the latest in a long-running series of efforts by the administration to quash publication of a book it deems unflattering to the president.”

 

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