Book publisher declines DOJ's request for information about anonymous Trump official

The Department of Justice is seeking information about the anonymous Trump administration official set to release a tell-all book this month, but the publisher won't provide it.

In a letter to Hachette Book Group signed by Assistant Attorney General Joseph Hunt, the DOJ asks for proof that the senior Trump official who authored the upcoming insider book A Warning didn't sign a nondisclosure agreement or have access to classified information, NBC News and The New York Times report. Alternatively, the DOJ requests any nondisclosure agreements that may have been signed or the "dates of the author's service and the agencies where the author was employed," information that could help identify the official, so that "we may determine the terms of the author's nondisclosure agreements and ensure that they have been followed."

But Hachette says it "respectfully declines" this request because it has "made a commitment of confidentiality" to the anonymous official, who previously wrote a New York Times op-ed in September 2018 about a "resistance" inside the Trump administration, and "we intend to honor that commitment." Literary agency Javelin also accused the Department of Justice of trying to "intimidate and expose the senior official."

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A Warning is set to be published on Nov. 19, and Axios reports the book will "recount specific conversations" from meetings with President Trump. "You will hear a great deal from Donald Trump directly, for there is no better witness to his character than his own words," the back cover of the book reads. CNN reports that although precautions have been taken to ensure the author's anonymity, the writer "knows that his or her identity may be unmasked during the book rollout." The Times reports that the author "plans to publish under the byline Anonymous again."