WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has sued former national security adviser John Bolton to block the publication of a book that the White House says contains classified information.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, follows warnings from President Donald Trump that Bolton could face a “criminal problem” if he doesn’t halt plans to publish the book.
The administration has also said the former adviser did not complete a pre-publication review to ensure that the manuscript did not contain classified material.
The suit asks a judge to direct Bolton to notify his publisher that he was not authorized to release “The Room Where It Happened,” to further delay the release date of the book, and to instruct the publisher to take any and all steps to retrieve and dispose of any copies of the book that may be in the possession of any third party.
The complaint also asks a judge to order that “all monies, gains, profits, royalties and other advantages” that Bolton and his agents receive from the book be placed in a “constructive trust for the benefit of the United States.
Bolton’s attorney, Chuck Cooper, has said Bolton worked for months with classification specialists to avoid releasing classified material.
Cooper has accused the White House of using national security information as a pretext to censor Bolton.
As of Tuesday, Amazon listed the book as being released next week, on June 23.
