Trump administration can't block book publication, but judge's view may be a 'disaster' for Bolton

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last updated 20 June 2020

At first glance, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth's Saturday decision looks like a victory for former National Security Adviser John Bolton.

Lamberth ruled Bolton can publish his forthcoming book The Room Where It Happened despite the Trump administration's attempts to halt its release over purported concerns about exposing classified information. "For reasons that hardly need to be stated, the Court will not order a nationwide seizure and destruction of a political memoir," Lamberth wrote, noting the book had already been distributed and would find its way to audiences via the internet, regardless of the court's decision.

Even though Bolton came out on top in the prior restraint dispute, legal analysts think the Justice Department may have gotten the best of him overall. For starters, it's unclear if he'll be able to keep profits from the book, but perhaps more importantly, Lamberth said Bolton "gambled with the national security of the United States" and exposed himself to civil and, potentially, criminal liability, indicating he should have procured final approval from national intelligence authorities. Tim O'Donnell

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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