The Justice Department asked a federal judge Wednesday to order former National Security Adviser John Bolton to stop the publication of his forthcoming memoir, The Room Where It Happened, alleging that "disclosure of the manuscript will damage the national security of the United States."
The book is scheduled for release on June 23, and hundreds of thousands of copies have already been printed and distributed to retailers worldwide. The Justice Department's filing seeks a temporary restraining order and then a preliminary injunction, and asks that Judge Royce C. Lamberth hold a hearing about the case on Friday, The New York Times reports.
Bolton's publisher, Simon & Schuster, called the filing "a frivolously, politically motivated exercise in futility" and said the injunction "as requested by the government would accomplish nothing."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
On Tuesday, the Justice Department and the U.S. attorney's office in Washington filed a lawsuit attempting to block publication of The Room Where it Happened, accusing Bolton of breaching the contract he signed when hired as national security adviser. In a declaration attached to Wednesday's lawsuit, National Security Council official Michael Ellis said he looked at Bolton's manuscript and found it contained top secret classified information.
-
September 3 editorial cartoonsCartoons Wednesday’s political cartoons include news from the war front in Ukraine, RFK Jr. riding the Grim Reaper, and a Donald Trump cabinet meeting
-
Why high-street coffee chains may have had their dayIn the Spotlight Rising costs of coffee, energy and payroll, plus growing appetite for luxury drinks like matcha, has caused boom in independent and speciality coffee shops
-
GPS jamming: a new danger to civil aircraftThe Explainer Use of the 'invisible threat' is on the rise
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
