Trump Administration Might File Lawsuit To Block John Bolton’s Memoir Release

President Donald Trump's administration is reportedly filing a lawsuit soon to block the release of a tell-all book by John Bolton, the former National Security adviser.

Sources close to the matter said the final details of the lawsuit are being worked on, a report from ABC revealed. Bolton also gave an interview to ABC's Martha Raddatz, which is set for airing Sunday (June 21), ahead of the release of “The Room Where It Happened" on Tuesday (June 23).

The 592-page memoir will delve into first-hand accounts of how Trump and the White House take decisions on crucial issues, including the president's meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Bolton will also allegedly detail the phone calls Trump had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and will explain why he didn't testify at the president's impeachment trial.

Bolton, who formerly worked with the United Nations, resigned as Trump's adviser in September 2019 and planned to publish “The Room Where It Happened" in early 2020. However, the book's release was delayed pending a standard review by the National Security Council despite Trump's accusations that Bolton did not complete the process to ensure his memoir had no classified information.

Attorney General Bill Barr said Bolton will need to make changes and delete some details from his book. The White House apparently told Bolton a redacted copy of his manuscript will be sent to him through his lawyer, Charles Cooper, by June 19.

But with the release date coming closer, Trump said in a press conference Monday (June 15) that Bolton might be breaking federal laws if his memoir comes out without the changes. His publisher, Simon & Schuster, has been promoting the book's release date for June 23.

"I will consider every conversation with me as president highly classified," the president said. "So that would mean that if he wrote a book, and if the book gets out, he’s broken the law. And I would think that he would have criminal problems, I would hope so.”

Meanwhile, Cooper wrote a piece on the Wall Street Journal citing Bolton's book release date will continue as planned. The lawyer said that has been "a transparent attempt to use national security as a pretext to censor Bolton," adding this is a violation of his client's "constitutional right to speak on matters of the utmost public importance."