White House spokesman Hogan Gidley dismissed claims of “censorship” by former national security adviser John Bolton.
The pushback on Tuesday came a day after Bolton, 71, accused the White House of trying to censor his forthcoming book about his time in the administration, which included the outset of the Ukrainian controversy that led to President Trump being impeached in the House. Trump was later acquitted in the Senate.
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“No one is trying to censor Ambassador Bolton’s book, and any suggestion to the contrary is ridiculous,” Gidley said in a statement to CBS News. “The NSC is simply conducting its normal procedure by career officials to ensure sensitive, top-secret classified material does not appear in the book. If any such information actually becomes public, that could be a serious threat to national security and jeopardize the safety of American citizens at home and abroad.”
On Monday, Bolton made his first public appearance since leaked details from his draft memoir rocked the president’s Senate impeachment trial, speaking to an audience at Duke University in the evening.
Bolton said his knowledge of the president’s Ukraine strategy was just “sprinkles on the ice cream sundae.”
“This is an effort to write history, and I did it the best I can,” he said. “We’ll have to see what comes out of the censorship.”
Bolton sent a draft manuscript to the National Security Council for a review, parts of which were leaked to the media. In these leaks, Bolton claimed Trump told him the military aid to Ukraine would be suspended until the country’s government announced investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden.
The disclosures, which emerged as the president’s legal team was about to begin its defense, giving rise to more calls by Democrats for Bolton to testify in the Senate impeachment trial. Bolton, who said he would testify if subpoenaed, was never called.
Bolton’s upcoming book, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, is scheduled to be released on March 17.
