The publisher for former national security adviser John Bolton’s upcoming memoir panned the Justice Department lawsuit to prevent the book’s publication, saying the Trump administration was trying to suppress voices critical of the president.
“The lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice to block John Bolton from publishing his book, THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED, 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,” Simon & Schuster said in a statement.
“Ambassador Bolton has worked in full cooperation with the NSC in its pre-publication review to address its concerns and Simon & Schuster fully supports his First Amendment right to tell the story of his time in the White House to the American public.”
The rebuke comes after the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a suit to block the publication of Bolton’s memoir, claiming that it contains classified information that could compromise national security if published before a government review is completed.
“[Bolton] regularly came into possession of some of the most sensitive classified information that exists in the U.S. government,” the lawsuit states. “Within two months of his departure from government service, defendant had negotiated a book deal allegedly worth about $2 million and had drafted a 500-plus page manuscript rife with classified information, which he proposed to release to the world.”
The DOJ asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to declare that Bolton’s memoir detailing of his time as a top Trump adviser from April 2018 to September 2019 violated his nondisclosure agreement. The lawsuit also asks that Simon & Schuster “retrieve and dispose of” any copies of the book held by third parties.
Bolton has denied that his book contains any classified information.
The memoir, set to be released on June 23, is expected to excoriate President Trump and contain details about the president’s interactions with Ukraine regarding his impeachment by the House of Representatives last December.
The book’s release has already been delayed for months as the White House National Security Council (NSC) conducts its prepublication review process.
“If he wrote a book, I can’t imagine that he can because that’s highly classified information,” Trump told reporters on Monday when asked about plans to file a lawsuit. “I will consider every conversation with me as president highly classified. So that would mean if he wrote a book and if the book gets out, he’s broken the law and I would think he would have criminal problems.”