President Trump checkmated failed neocon John Bolton said he would classify all their conversations and open Bolton up to criminal charges if he goes forward with his book.
Trump does have the power to classify or de-classify anything he wants so Bolton’s arrogant little games came back to bite him this time.
“I don’t think he’s even supposed to be calling himself an ambassador because he couldn’t get senate confirmed. That’s highly classified information. Even the conversations with me, they’re highly classified. If the book gets out, he’s broken the law,” Trump said.
From Axios:
President Trump told reporters Monday that his former national security adviser John Bolton will have a “very strong criminal problem” if he proceeds with publishing his tell-all book on June 23, calling it “highly inappropriate” and claiming: “I will consider every conversation with me as president to be highly classified.”
Why it matters: The memoir by Bolton, a prolific note-taker, is expected to shed light on alleged misconduct by Trump related to his dealings with foreign countries. ABC News reported Monday that the administration is planning to file a lawsuit this week seeking an injunction in federal court to block the book from publishing.
“If he wrote a book and if the book gets out, he’s broken the law and I would think you would have criminal problems. I hope so,” Trump said.
“If this guy is writing things about conversations or about anything — and maybe he is not telling the truth. He’s been known not to tell the truth, a lot.”
The big picture: Attorney General Bill Barr claimed that Bolton did not complete the process of pre-publication review with the White House to ensure classified information is not published.
But Bolton’s lawyer contests that, writing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed last week that Bolton underwent a four-month review process and that the White House attempted to block publication at the last minute by claiming the book still contained classified information.
This came after “weeks of silence” from the White House, Bolton’s lawyer claimed, accusing the administration of a “transparent attempt to use national security as a pretext to censor Mr. Bolton.”
Trump on Bolton’s Book: I don’t think he’s even supposed to be calling himself an ambassador because he couldn’t get senate confirmed... That’s highly classified information. Even the conversations with me, they’re highly classified... If the book gets out, he’s broken the law pic.twitter.com/FFVcFHobjy— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) June 15, 2020
