Trump administration sues Bolton over memoir

WASHINGTON - The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to prevent former national security adviser John Bolton from publishing his memoir about his work in the White House.

The civil action, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, alleged that Bolton's book, set to be released later this month, contains classified information that would compromise national security if published before a government review is completed.

The DOJ also asked the court to declare that Bolton's account of his time as US President Donald Trump's third national security adviser from April 2018 to September 2019 violated his nondisclosure agreement.

Bolton plans to release his memoir, "The Room Where It Happened," on June 23.

The release has been delayed for months as a result of a prepublication review process.

Trump claimed on Monday that it was "highly inappropriate" for Bolton to write the memoir.

"Maybe he's not telling the truth, he's been known not to tell the truth, a lot," Trump told reporters at the White House.

"I will consider every conversation with me highly classified," he said. "If he wrote a book and the book gets out, he's broken the law and I would think you would have criminal problems."

Chuck Cooper, Bolton's attorney, last week accused the White House of 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 import."

A foreign policy hawk, Bolton was ousted last year over disagreements with the president on a range of issues.