Posted on 06/16/2020 3:21:26 AM PDT by Cronos
Donald Trump said his former National Security Adviser John Bolton may face a "criminal problem" if he goes ahead with the publication of his book that is expected to be highly critical of the president.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that his former national security adviser, John Bolton, could face criminal liability if he doesn't halt the publication of his new book that is expected to provide an insider account of the Trump administration.
"I will consider every conversation with me as president highly classified. So that would mean that if he wrote a book and if the book gets out he's broken the law," Trump said. "That's called criminal liability. That's a big thing," he said.
Bolton, who served as Trump's national security adviser for about 18 months, is a controversial figure in Washington. He is a Republican policymaker known for his hawkish stance on foreign affairs. Bolton was fired by Trump in September 2019 over simmering differences on a range of foreign policy issues, most notably North Korea and Afghanistan.
'Addicted to chaos'
In the book, titled "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir," Bolton writes that almost every decision by Trump was motivated by domestic politics, and that he committed impeachable offenses even beyond the charges related to Ukraine.
"I am hard-pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my tenure that wasn't driven by reelection calculations," Bolton writes in the book, according to a statement by the publishers, Simon and Schuster.
The book describes Trump as "a President addicted to chaos, who embraced our enemies and spurned our friends, and was deeply suspicious of his own government," the statement said.
Pre-publication review
Trump has accused Bolton of not completing the clearance process required for a book by former government officials who had access to sensitive information. While Trump admitted he had not read the book, he said the problem of revealing conversations with the president "becomes even worse if he lies about the conversation, which I understand he might have in some cases."
"We'll see what happens. They're in court or they'll soon be in court," Trump said.
US Attorney General William Barr also raised concerns over the pre-publication review process, and added that the Trump administration was "trying to get them to go through the process and make the necessary deletions of classified information."
Bolton's lawyer Chuck Cooper has contradicted these statements, saying that his client had painstakingly worked with classifications specialists at the White House National Security Council to ensure classified material is not published.
"This is a transparent attempt to use national security as a pretext to censor Mr. Bolton, in violation of his constitutional right to speak on matters of the utmost public importance,''according to Cooper. "This attempt will not succeed, and Mr. Bolton's book will be published June 23."
And look at Bolton's lawyer pulling out nonsense from his hat
I’m betting there’s not one damn thing in there that is damaging to the President. (And the President knows it.) Call it Political bantering for the media’s benefit.
Why wouldn’t Trump be suspicious of his own government?
> John Bolton risks facing charges <
Will that be before or after Hillary faces charges?
Just asking for a friend.
Let’s see... trying to please the electorate so that you get re-elected. Isn’t that the job?
Bolton is like a JILTED GIRL!! He’s going to do anything he can to RUIN TRUMP!
Every president since Washington has weighed the domestic ramifications of decisions made in the area of foreign affairs. Nothing new here...
Bolton’s publisher is Simon & Schuster.
S&S is owned by ViacomCBS.
Nuff said.
Make a boatload of money. What else?
The book describes Trump as “a President addicted to chaos, who embraced our enemies and spurned our friends, and was deeply suspicious of his own government,” the statement said.
Boltons’ book is a lying hit piece straight out. Bolton is a piece of shit who deserves a curb-stomping.
” Bolton is a piece of shit who deserves a curb-stomping.” — exactly
I doubt Trump ever trusted Bolton from day one and he was always just toying and testing him. Trump knew he would be playing the long game and his first term was just Foundation building.
If the book seems to be “juicy,” wait for the previously detested, warmongering Bolton to be lionized by the Democrats and their MSM allies for his courage and honesty.
“John Bolton risks facing charges” You mean like Strok and Paige or Comey or Brennan or Clapper or Schift or Rosenstien or McCabe? You mean that kind of risk? You mean because he stole pages of notes from meetings he attended with Trump and others and used them to write his book. Risks my ass, nothing will happen to him.
> nothing will happen to him <
That’s my point, exactly.
“Charges”? Why?
Everyone ELSE in DC, and everyone in and out of the Trump adm., has a mouth like a torn pocketbook!
(sarc)
1. Bolton will publish a book that contains a number of wild, outlandish claims about President Trump.
2. He will be immune from any kind of legal repercussions for one key reason: Fictional accounts of meetings in the White House are not classified by any legal measure.
THE END.
No, he doesn’t face prosecution. No one has been prosecuted.
“And look at Bolton’s lawyer pulling out nonsense from his hat”
I guess that’s where the term a$$hat comes from.
There was a time when I liked John Bolton. It’s discouraging how many public figures I believed in, only to find out that they were actually a globalist, a Leftist, and/or part of the Deep State.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.