White House Issued Formal Threat to Bolton from Publishing Classified Material in Manuscript

Former national security adviser John Bolton has been told by the White House not to publish his “upcoming tell-all about his time in the Trump administration until classified material is removed from the manuscript,” as reported by Fox News.

Fox News has obtained what Ellen J. Knight, a National Security Council aide, wrote in a letter to Bolton attorney Charles J. Cooper last week: “Under federal law and the nondisclosure agreements your client signed as a condition for gaining access to classified information, the manuscript may not be published or otherwise disclosed without the deletion of this classified information.”

CNN: White House has issued formal threat to Bolton to keep him from publishing book https://t.co/id1QSyx8Fw from @jaketapper

— Sarah Boxer (@Sarah_Boxer) January 29, 2020

CNN reported that the letter, which is dated January 23, said some of the information was classified at the “top secret” level, meaning it “reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave harm to the national security.”

According to the New York Times, Bolton’s draft manuscript has a claim that Trump explicitly linked a hold on Ukraine aid to an investigation of Joe and Hunter Biden. “Democrats have used the revelation about the book to renew calls for Bolton’s testimony,” reported Fox News.

Bolton’s attorney Cooper released a statement and a copy of an email response to the NSC’s letter: “My email response speaks for itself, but it is important to note that I have received no response whatever to my urgent request for the NSC’s immediate guidance as to any concerns it may have with respect to the chapter of the manuscript dealing with Ambassador Bolton’s involvement in matters relating to Ukraine.”