Federal Judge Rules on John Bolton's Book

Looks like Bolton's book is coming out after all
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 20, 2020 10:00 AM CDT
Federal Judge Rules on John Bolton's Book
A copy of "The Room Where It Happened," by former national security adviser John Bolton, is photographed at the White House, Thursday, June 18, 2020, in Washington.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A federal judge ruled Saturday that former national security adviser John Bolton can move forward in publishing his tell-all book despite efforts by the Trump administration to block the release because of concerns that classified information could be exposed, the AP reports. The decision from US District Judge Royce Lamberth is a victory for Bolton in a court case that involved core First Amendment and national security concerns. But the judge also made clear his concerns that Bolton had "gambled with the national security of the United States" by opting out of a prepublication review process meant to prevent government officials from spilling classified secrets in memoirs they publish. The ruling clears the path for a broader election-year readership of the memoir, due out Tuesday.

The book paints an unflattering portrait of President Trump's foreign policy decision-making during the turbulent year-and-a-half that Bolton spent in the White House. Nonethless, Lamberth frowned upon the way Bolton went about publishing the book. Bolton took it "upon himself to publish his book without securing final approval from national intelligence authorities" and perhaps caused irreparable harm to national security, Lamberth said. But with 200,000 copies already distributed to booksellers across the country, attempting to block its release would be futile, the judge wrote. "A single dedicated individual with a book in hand could publish its contents far and wide from his local coffee shop," Lamberth wrote. "With hundreds of thousands of copies around the globe ... the damage is done." (Prosecutors have considered pressing charges against Bolton.)

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