A federal judge ruled on Thursday that former national security adviser John Bolton will be allowed to seek evidence that President Trump or others may have tried to halt the publication of his memoir over political motives.
U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth said Bolton is entitled to investigate possible concerns unrelated to national security that may have delayed the publication of his tell-all book, The Room Where It Happened.
Lamberth also denied the Justice Department’s request for an order allowing the government to seize Bolton’s future profits from his book until he can investigate his meddling concerns, according to a report by Politico.
“The Court does not countenance any individual’s decision to short-circuit prepublication review and publicly disseminate potentially classified information,“ Lamberth wrote in his opinion. “But nor does it wish to free the government from all consequences for potential misconduct.”
The Justice Department filed a suit against Bolton in May in hopes of blocking publication of his book, but the judge said the suit came too late since copies were already released to the media. Prosecutors opened an investigation into the book, accusing Bolton of violating possible laws related to the disclosure of classified national security information.
Bolton’s court battle will likely move into President-elect Joe Biden’s administration, which will officially be in place on Wednesday.
Bolton’s book disclosed his firsthand account of the Trump administration’s relationships with foreign leaders and alleged the president offered favors to dictators and pushed the Ukrainian president to probe Biden and his son Hunter.
Trump dismissed the book in its accuracy in a 2018 tweet, captured by the Guardian.
“Wacko John Bolton’s “exceedingly tedious” (New York Times) book is made up of lies & fake stories,” Trump said. “Said all good about me, in print, until the day I fired him. A disgruntled boring fool who only wanted to go to war. Never had a clue, was ostracized & happily dumped. What a dope!”
