John Bolton, Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland in February.
Michael Brochstein | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Saturday denied a request by the the Department of Justice to halt the sale and distribution of a forthcoming memoir by former Trump national security advisor John Bolton.
U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth wrote that the government’s request to block distribution of “The Room Where it Happened,” a damning memoir of Bolton’s White House tenure, would be impossible to enforce because thousands of copies of the book have already been printed and shipped to distributors.
The ruling is a significant blow to the Trump White House, which has taken extraordinary steps in the past week to quash the memoir, which is set for release on Tuesday and already a bestseller.
In addition to its motion requesting that Lamberth halt sales of the book, which the government filed on Wednesday, the Justice Department has also sued Bolton personally, alleging that he violated nondisclosure agreements he signed with the White House.
“The Room Where it Happened” paints Trump as a “stunningly uninformed,” craven and mendacious chief executive, and one who repeatedly signaled his willingness to sell out the nation’s security interests if it meant advancing his own interests.
Within minutes of Saturday’s ruling, Trump tweeted fresh attacks on Bolton.
“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!” Trump wrote.
“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!!!”
The question of whether Bolton’s book contains classified information is at the heart of an ongoing legal battle between Bolton and the White House. And while Lamberth did not directly rule on this question Saturday, he left little doubt that he agrees with the government’s claim that it does, indeed, contain classified material.
Bolton and his attorneys have flatly denied that there is classified information in the book, and point to a monthslong prepublication review process Bolton underwent with the National Security Council, which resulted in several changes to the book at the NSC’s request. Following the edits, the book’s primary reviewer wrote to Bolton in late April to say the book did not appear to contain any more classified information.
Yet according to the Justice Department, after this first review process was over a second, unannounced review of the book was initiated, and this second review turned up more classified information that the first review had missed.
But by the time the White House informed Bolton, in June, that the second review had found more classified information, it was too late. Bolton had already instructed his publisher to print the book and distribute it around the world.
In his ruling Saturday, Lamberth repeatedly faulted Bolton for not waiting until he had final, written authorization from the government before telling his publisher to proceed with printing the book.
The judge also said that after personally reviewing the information in Bolton’s book that the government claims is classified, Lamberth agreed with the Justice Department: The information cited appears to be classified.
Yet for the purposes of Saturday’s order, Lamberth set aside this question of whether there is classified information in the book. Instead he zeroed in the issue of whether a court order blocking the book now was an appropriate remedy to prevent this information from becoming public.
One of the things the government had to prove, he wrote, was that such an order would actually work.
With the book already in thousands of bookstores, distributed to reviewers and journalists and purchased by thousands of people online, said the judge, a court order blocking it would not succeed in preventing the material in the book from becoming public.
Below is a photo of the printed book at the White House earlier this week, where journalists scoured advance copies and questioned officials about many of the claims Bolton makes in the memoir.
A copy of “The Room Where It Happened,” by former national security adviser John Bolton is staged by a television crew at the White House on Thursday, June 18, 2020 in Washington, DC.
Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty Images
“While Bolton’s unilateral conduct raises grave national security concerns, the government has not established that an injunction is an appropriate remedy,” Lamberth wrote.
“Defendant Bolton has gambled with the national security of the United States. He has exposed his country to harm and himself to civil (and potentially criminal) liability. But these facts do not control the motion before the Court. The government has failed to establish that an injunction will prevent irreparable harm. Its motion is accordingly denied.”
Given that the book is slated for release on Tuesday, it is unlikely the government will appeal this ruling.
But Saturday’s order was far from an unqualified victory for Bolton. And at several points in the ruling, Lamberth suggested that Bolton probably did violate his employment contract, and that the government would likely prevail in its separate but related lawsuit against Bolton.
“This was Bolton’s bet,” wrote Lamberth. “If he is right and the book does not contain classified information, he keeps the [profits and the publicity for the book]; but if he is wrong, he stands to lose his profits from the book deal, exposes himself to criminal liability, and imperils national security. Bolton was wrong.”
Seeking to spin the loss into a victory, Trump seized on this part of the ruling to declare that the decision was a “BIG COURT WIN against Bolton.”
“Obviously, with the book already given out and leaked to many people and the media, nothing the highly respected Judge could have done about stopping it,” Trump tweeted shortly after his first tweets attacking Bolton.
“BUT, strong & powerful statements & rulings on MONEY & on BREAKING CLASSIFICATION were made…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!”
This is a developing news story, please check back for updates.
