WASHINGTON: The
Trump administration
has taken legal action against former national security consultant
John Bolton
to delay the publication of a book that the White Home says consists of classified information and that is expected to paint an unfavourable picture of the president’s foreign policy decision-making.
The
civil suit
submitted Tuesday in Washington’s federal court follows cautions from President Donald Trump that Bolton might deal with a “criminal issue” if he does not halt strategies to release the book, which is set up for release next week.
The grievance is the most recent salvo in a contentious relationship in between Trump and the hawkish Bolton, who was quickly forced from the White House last September after repeated differences on national security matters.
It moves their rift into court, where a judge will be asked to decide whether Bolton short-circuited proper treatments to get his book on the market – something his lawyer and publisher have highly rejected.
His publisher, Simon & Schuster, called the lawsuit “absolutely nothing more than the most recent in a long running series of efforts by the administration to quash publication of a