Former National Security Advisor John Bolton is being sued by the Department of Justice over his new book. Bolton, who recently authored “The Room Where it Happened,” is facing suit for allegedly breaching an NDA. The non-disclosure agreement holds that Bolton can’t share non-public knowledge he gained as a federal employee.
In spite of this suit, however, Bolton’s publisher, Simon and Schuster, is already well underway printing the book. In an email, Bolton’s lawyer wrote “We are reviewing the Government’s complaint, and will respond in due course.”
Bolton’s tenure as Trump’s third national security advisor was fraught. The two men allegedly rarely saw eye-to-eye, and Bolton bristled under Trump’s leadership. After Bolton departed the White House in September 2019, Trump largely disavowed his former employee.
Bolton, an avowed conservative, has been an outspoken critic of Donald Trump. His upcoming book has been controversial among Republicans. The book will allegedly contain information about the now-infamous Ukraine phone call that led to Trump’s 2019 impeachment.
Speaking of the lawsuit, the DOJ wrote “the NSC has determined that information in the manuscript is classified at the Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret levels”. Bolton’s publisher insists this is not the case, and that the NSC is aware of the contents of the book. Should the DOJ successfully stop Bolton’s book, the former national security advisor might need a bankruptcy attorney.
Many have noted that Trump’s Department of Justice is likely clamping down on Bolton’s book for portraying the president in a negative light. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread civil unrest over police brutality, Trump’s national approval rating has plummeted. Polls from numerous sources show Trump trailing his likely November opponent Joe Biden considerably.
However, some pollsters are concerned that their polls don’t have enough responses from whites without college degrees. Historically, white voters cast similar ballots, regardless of their education level. White without college degrees were the primary Trump voters in the 2016 election. Polling from 2016 showed Trump was not the favorite to win, but overlooked this demographic.
Hillary Clinton, his opponent, received the lion’s share of educated white votes. This means a poll that receives few responses from white people that didn’t attend college could show a skew towards Biden. However, other pollsters have noted that the margin by which Trump is trailing Biden is wide enough to make such concerns statistically insignificant.
