- The lawyer for former national security adviser John Bolton published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, accusing the White House of blocking the publication of Bolton's memoir.
- In his op-ed, Chuck Cooper said President Donald Trump "doesn't want John Bolton to publish his book," and claimed Trump officials were using national security "as a pretext to prevent the publication" of the memoir.
- On June 8, Trump's deputy counsel for national security, John Eisenberg, wrote a letter to Cooper stating that the current manuscript "still contains classified material," and that a redacted copy of the manuscript would be sent to Bolton by June 19.
- But Cooper asserted in his op-ed that Bolton has made numerous edits to his book in accordance with White House guidance, and would still be publishing the book on June 23.
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John Bolton's lawyer said the White House is continuing attempts to block the former national security adviser's upcoming memoir, detailing his time in the Trump administration, saying the book still contains "classified material."
In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, Bolton's lawyer, Chuck Cooper, said the White House has stymied the book's publication for months despite multiple lengthy discussions about revising the book in order to protect US national security.
"Officials are attempting to use national security as a pretext to prevent the publication of his memoir," Cooper wrote.
The book, titled "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir," was originally slated for publication in March. But according to Cooper, the book's publisher, Simon & Schuster, was twice required to postpone the book's release "while the manuscript underwent 'prepublication review' by the National Security Council."
"President Trump doesn't want John Bolton to publish his book," Cooper wrote in the first line of his op-ed, saying that the White House's suppression of the book violates "Bolton's First and Fifth Amendment rights."
Bolton has publicly teased chapters of his book, including discussions of the July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which became the subject of Trump's impeachment and subsequent Senate trial. Trump was ultimately acquitted of charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in February.
But according to Cooper, Bolton, who resigned from the Trump administration in September 2019, "took care as he wrote to avoid revealing anything that might be classified."
Cooper said Bolton spent months going through repeated edits of his manuscript with a senior national security director, "often line by line." He added that Bolton revised the manuscript following the director's guidance and his own notes.
On June 8, Trump's deputy counsel for national security, John Eisenberg, wrote a letter to Cooper stating that the current manuscript "still contains classified material."
"The unauthorized disclosure of classified information could be exploited by a foreign power, thereby causing significant harm to the national security of the United States," Eisenberg wrote in his letter, obtained by The New York Times.
According to The Times, Eisenberg said that the National Security Council would provide Bolton with a redacted copy of his manuscript by June 19.
But Cooper asserted in his op-ed that Eisenberg's "last-minute allegation" came as a result of news that the book would be published on June 23.
"This is a transparent attempt to use national security as a pretext to censor Mr. Bolton, in violation of his constitutional right to speak on matters of the utmost public import. This attempt will not succeed, and Mr. Bolton's book will be published June 23."
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