The lawsuit, filed in Washington, DC, federal court, alleges that Bolton's over 500-page manuscript was "filled with classified information", and prosecutors say Bolton has withdrawn from an ongoing verification process to the White House for the book he had been forced to do as a result of the agreements.
<< (Bolton) has entered into an agreement with the United States as a condition of his employment in one of the most sensitive and important national security posts of the United States government and now wishes to reverse this agreement by deciding unilaterally that the pre-publication review process is complete and deciding for itself whether classified information should be made public, "write prosecutors.
Bolton's book has already been shipped to warehouses before its planned release. He recorded an interview with ABC which is scheduled to air on Sunday. And a source close to him says he intends to publish the book as planned on Tuesday, which means he expects to face all of the ramifications of the administration overnight, not before.
Bolton's attorney Chuck Cooper told CNN they "are investigating the government's complaint and will respond in a timely manner".
Bolton editor Simon & Schuster said in a statement on Tuesday that the trial "is nothing more than the latest in a long series of efforts by the administration to cancel the publication of a book which he considers unflattering for the president. "
"Ambassador Bolton has worked in full cooperation with the NSC in his pre-publication review to address his concerns and Simon & Schuster fully supports his right to the First Amendment to tell the story of his stay at the White House to the American public" , says the press release. said.
In a letter to NSC legal counsel last week, Cooper accused the White House of seeking to block the book for "purely political reasons", adding that "in practice, (it) comes too late".
A comprehensive back and forth between Bolton, his lawyer and the White House on the pre-publication review process is detailed in the lawsuit. Bolton, who left the White House in September, submitted his original draft late last year to the White House for the verification process, and was informed shortly after by a senior NSC official that it contained significant amounts of classified information, including documents designated as top secret.
After several face-to-face meetings and series of changes that culminated in late April, Bolton appeared to have authorized the pre-publication review. Ellen Knight, the official who reviewed the book, had determined that the latest version of the manuscript no longer contained classified information, the trial said.
But less than a week later, another round of examinations had started at the White House, this time led by Michael Ellis, chief intelligence officer of the NSC. The review came at the request of Robert O'Brien, Bolton's successor as a national security adviser, according to the trial.
O'Brien "was concerned that the manuscript still appeared to contain classified information, in part because the same administration that the author served is still in office and that the manuscript described sensitive information on foreign policy matters ongoing, "said the trial.
Ellis completed his review on June 9 and found that there were still cases of classified information in the book - as the reports described Bolton's intention to go ahead with the book's publication on 23 June, even without White House approval.
In a letter sent Thursday to Bolton's lawyer, NSC legal counsel wrote that "the manuscript still contains classified information because, among other things, it includes information that he himself has classified and designated for declassification only after twenty-five years ". . "
Trump has been increasingly irritated by the idea that his former national security adviser will publish a revealing book, several sources said. He told staff that he wanted to stop publishing it and privately considered suing him to stop it, a tactic the President relied on previously when former officials or people close to him writes books he thinks are unfavorable. He has a history of lawsuits which he later drops.
Trump erroneously claimed on Monday that all conversations with him are closed and hint at possible legal action.
"They are in court or they will be soon," said Trump. "But he understands that he didn't finish a process or that he almost ended a process."
Trump said Bolton would have "criminal problems" if the book was published as is. The lawsuit filed on Tuesday is a civil action and contains no criminal sanction. Initially, Attorney General William Barr did not confirm that his department was preparing a lawsuit, but said the administration was focused on getting Bolton to complete the customs clearance process for the publication of books.
"People who come to work in government and have access to sensitive information usually sign an agreement which states that upon leaving government, if they write something that is inspired or might reflect some of the information they have access, they have to go through an authorization process before they can publish the book, "Barr said on Monday." We don't think Bolton went through this process, didn't finish this process. "
In addition to the late publication, the administration is asking the court to order Bolton's publisher to "recover and dispose" of all copies of the book that have already been released. They also ask for money that the book earns from its sales - or from the sale of film rights to it - in the event that it is published without a full pre-publication review.
In a statement, the American Civil Liberties Union compared the lawsuit to the Nixon administration's failed attempt to block newspapers from publishing the Pentagon, which detailed a secret history of the Vietnam War.
"Half a century ago, the Supreme Court rejected a similar attempt by the Nixon administration to block the publication of Pentagon documents, and since then it has been firmly established that pre-publication restrictions are unconstitutional and anti-American, "said the ACLU. .
The first revelations of the book have already made waves in Washington.
In January, while Congress debated impeachment articles on Trump's dealings with the head of Ukraine, portions of the leaked manuscript described how the president had directly linked a freeze on U.S. military aid to the country with a request for Ukraine to announce investigations into the politics of Trump's rivals in a conversation with Bolton. The account, published in the New York Times, attributed to several descriptions of the book project, has undermined a key pillar of the defense against the president's dismissal.
At the time, Bolton's lawyer Cooper said that the information had been improperly disclosed by persons not involved in the examination process then in progress.
This story was updated with additional developments on Tuesday evening.CNN's Kylie Atwood and Paul LeBlanc contributed to this report.
