Trump's tweets contradict administration's claims that Bolton's book is full of classified information

John Bolton's book is somehow both "lies" and "classified information," President Trump and his team are claiming.

Before the former national security adviser published his White House memoir The Room Where It Happened, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit to get its publication delayed, claiming Bolton didn't submit the manuscript for a White House review and was set to air "classified information." But now that the book is in the hands of journalists and Bolton's grievances are out in the world, Trump has pivoted to decrying the book's alleged "lies and fake stories."

Bolton's book claims Trump encouraged China's president to build concentration camps, called for journalists to be executed, and asserts Trump should've been impeached for more than just his Ukraine scandal. Trump took a stab at dispelling all that in a tweet just after midnight Thursday, calling the book "made up of lies and fake stories" and saying Bolton was "a disgruntled boring fool who only wanted to go to war." He said something similar in another tweet a few hours later.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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.

Sign up

When responders started questioning just how both things could be true, the White House's Director of Strategic Communications tried to clear it up. Kathryn Krawczyk