John Bolton May Face Criminal Charges For White House Memoir, Report Says
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s new tell-all book, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, is already making waves ahead of its June 23 release date for its damning allegations about President Donald Trump. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, federal prosecutors at the Department of Justice (DOJ) are considering criminal charges against Bolton for allegedly disclosing classified information in his book.
Trump previously warned that Bolton could face criminal charges for the release of the book, although he noted the decision is in the hands of Attorney General William Barr, MarketWatch wrote.
“We’ll see what happens,” Trump said on Monday. “They’re in court — or they’ll soon be in court.”
Trump and Barr have both accused Bolton of bypassing the pre-publication review process to ensure the absence of classified details.
“We don’t believe that Bolton went through that process — hasn’t completed the process — and, therefore, is in violation of that agreement,” Barr said.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the DOJ is also planning to seek a temporary restraining order as soon as Wednesday to block the publication of the book, which is slated to debut next week via Simon & Schuster.
“It is not clear how successful such a legal fight would be,” the outlet speculated.
Thus far, the DOJ has filed a lawsuit against Bolton in an attempt to stop the launch of the book until the manuscript has been examined for classified information. As The Inquisitr reported, White House lawyer John Eisenberg claimed that Bolton’s manuscript indeed contains such information, which he noted would be a violation of his nondisclosure agreements.
Conversely, one of Bolton’s attorneys, Charles Cooper, previously said that his client worked with National Security Council officials for months to ensure that The Room Where It Happened did not contain classified information. According to Cooper, the White House is using calls for a review of the manuscript to stifle the book’s release.
“This is a transparent attempt to use national security as a pretext to censor Mr. Bolton, in violation of his constitutional right to speak on matters of the utmost public import. This attempt will not succeed, and Mr. Bolton’s book will be published June 23.”
WATCH: In new book, John Bolton writes that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "slipped Mr. Bolton a note disparaging the president, saying 'He's so full of s—'" pic.twitter.com/ctZHTJuevF
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) June 17, 2020
Excerpts from Bolton’s book have begun leaking ahead of its release. In addition, Bolton recently sat down for his first interview about the forthcoming memoir with ABC News Chief of Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz. The discussion is set to air Sunday, June 21, on ABC — just two days before the title’s release.
