Former national security advisor John Bolton is going to release a tell-all book in a few weeks that accuses President Donald Trump of misconduct with several foreign countries.
Critics have called the memoir a “cash grab gone wrong” — and the White House is warning it could reveal American secrets to our nation’s enemies.
The White House is warning that Bolton’s manuscript still contains classified material and could present a national security threat. But his lawyer said Wednesday that publication will go ahead as planned on June 23 and he accused the White House of unfairly trying to keep it on ice.
John Eisenberg, a deputy White House counsel, wrote Bolton attorney Charles Cooper this week raising concerns that the manuscript for “The Room Where It Happened” still “contains classified information.”
“As we advised your client when he signed the nondisclosure agreements, and as he should be well as aware as Assistant to the President for the National Security Affairs in this administration, 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 a letter, according to The Associated Press.
Eisenberg added that Bolton would be provided with necessary redactions from the White House no later than June 19.
Leaked passages from the manuscript roiled Washington in the midst of Trump’s impeachment trial. The book will also include allegations that there was “Trump misconduct with other countries,” an insider told Axios.
Bolton initially submitted the transcript as required to Ellen Knight, the National Security Council’s senior director for review of materials written by NSC personnel, on Dec. 30, according to Cooper.
“What followed was perhaps the most extensive and intensive prepublication review in NSC history,” Bolton’s lawyer claims. “Mr. Bolton and Ms. Knight spent almost four months going through the nearly 500-page manuscript four times, often line by line.”
Then Bolton received the letter on Monday that the White House has concerns about classified material in the book remain.
The White House declined to comment Wednesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this article