Trump administration sues to block publication of John Bolton’s book

The big picture: The memoir by Bolton, a prolific note taker, is expected to shed light on alleged misconduct by President Trump related to his dealings with foreign countries. Trump claimed on Monday that Bolton would have a “very strong criminal problem” if he proceeded with publishing the book, stating: “I will consider every conversation with me as president to be highly classified.”

The other side: Bolton’s lawyer Charles Cooper said in a statement in response to the lawsuit, “We are reviewing the Government’s complaint, and will respond in due course.”

• Cooper claimed in a Wall Street Journal op-ed last week that his client has already undergone four months of “perhaps the most extensive and intensive prepublication review in NSC history,” before the White House official who Bolton was coordinating with suddenly stopped responding.
• The attorney claims that the White House has purposely stalled the process as a “transparent attempt to use national security as a pretext to censor Mr. Bolton.”
• Bolton pointed on Twitter to the following statement from the ACLU: “50 years ago, SCOTUS rejected the Nixon administration’s attempt to block the publication of the Pentagon Papers, establishing that government censorship is unconstitutional. Any Trump administration efforts to stop John Bolton’s book from being published are doomed to fail.” Continue reading.