John Bolton's tell-all Trump book The Room Where It Happened can be published, judge rules
The White House says the book has classified information but a judge refuses to ban it.
Thursday 25 June 2020 17:42, UK
Donald Trump's former national security adviser, John Bolton, can publish his tell-all book, a judge has ruled.
The White House tried to block the release of The Room Where It Happened and retrieve any copies already in the public domain.
Some 200,000 copies have already been printed and distributed and its contents have been the subject of numerous media reports.
US district judge Roy Lamberth has now allowed full publication to go ahead, having previously warned that "the horse seems to be out of the barn".
He had pointed out that books had already been sent out "all over the country".
Mr Trump immediately tweeted an angry response, saying: "Wow, I finally agree with failed political consultant Steve Schmidt, who called Wacko John Bolton "a despicable man who failed in his duty to protect America." Also stated that he should never be allowed to serve in government again. So true! Plain and simple, John Bolton,....
".....who was all washed up until I brought him back and gave him a chance, broke the law by releasing Classified Information (in massive amounts). He must pay a very big price for this, as others have before him. This should never to happen again!!!"
He went on: "....Bolton broke the law and has been called out and rebuked for so doing, with a really big price to pay. He likes dropping bombs on people, and killing them. Now he will have bombs dropped on him!"
The book includes claims that Mr Trump had been unaware that Britain was a nuclear power, that the president had asked if Finland was part of Russia, and that he had sought help from Chinese President Xi Jinping to win November's presidential election in the US.
Mr Trump said he sacked Mr Bolton in September after 17 months in the White House job and Mr Trump told Fox News earlier this week that his former adviser "broke the law" in publishing the book.
He also tweeted that Mr Bolton was just trying to get even for being fired "like the sick puppy he is!".
Mr Bolton claimed it was his own decision to leave the administration.
In court, justice department lawyer David Morrell said Mr Bolton had created a "mess" by publishing the book without what he described as formal authorisation that the manuscript was free of classified information.
Mr Morrell said: "He has flung the barnyard doors open. He has let the horses out, and now he looks at us collectively and says, 'What are you going to do about it?'
"Deterrence matters because there's a massive government interest in ensuring that these agreements aren't breached by a disgruntled author."
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Mr Bolton should not be allowed to profit from flouting his contractual obligation to not disclose classified material he had access to while working at the White House, Mr Morrell added.
Mr Bolton's lawyers said the allegations were another way for the White House to censor unflattering claims about the Trump administration.
In court papers, they wrote: "If the First Amendment stands for anything, it is that the government does not have the power to clasp its hand over the mouth of a citizen attempting to speak on a matter of great public import."
The court heard that Mr Bolton had been told on 27 April by the official responsible for overseeing the National Security Council's pre-publication process that no classified material had been found in the manuscript.
Another White House official had done an additional review, however, and disagreed.