White House fights to block Bolton's book; Trump calls him 'sick puppy'

Donald Trump once again took to social media on Thursday to lash out at his former national security adviser John Bolton over the latter's controversial book, which is soon to hit shelves, containing damaging allegations against the US president.

The book, titled "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir", sparked furore even before being published, as US media released excerpts where Trump is depicted as easily manipulated by foreign leaders. Trump has previously strongly condemned the book and the former adviser, whom he called a "disgruntled boring fool".

"Bolton's book, which is getting terrible reviews, is a compilation of lies and made up stories, all intended to make me look bad. Many of the ridiculous statements he attributes to me were never made, pure fiction. Just trying to get even for firing him like the sick puppy he is!" the President tweeted.

According to Sputnik news agency, the tweet follows a previous post in which the president accused "wacko" Bolton of publishing lies, pointing out that his former adviser had only spoken good of him before getting fired.

"Wacko John Bolton's 'exceedingly tedious'(New York Times) book is made up of lies & fake stories. Said all good about me, in print, until the day I fired him. A disgruntled boring fool who only wanted to go to war. Never had a clue, was ostracized and happily dumped. What a dope!" he had said.

According to US media outlets that managed to obtain fragments of the forthcoming book, Trump sought aid from China's President Xi for his 2020 re-election bid and intended to "take care" of a federal investigation into the breach of anti-Iranian sanctions by a Turkish firm.

 

The publication also contains alleged gaffes and controversial statements by President Trump, such as his ostensible idea that invading Venezuela would be "cool".

In addition, the book reportedly reveals that Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine in 2019, which was the basis for the impeachment probe against him. According to the book, several officials, including Mike Pompeo, contemplated resigning over this revelation.

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump told reporters that it was inappropriate for Bolton to write a book with classified information in it, adding that he may be breaking the law if the book gets published.

Bolton plans to release his memoir, "The Room Where It Happened," on June 23, which has been delayed for months as a result of a prepublication review process.

The Trump administration is making a last-ditch effort to stop the publication of a damaging new book by a former national security adviser.

Among several allegations, John Bolton said Donald Trump "pleaded" for help from China to win re-election in 2020.

The Justice Department has filed an emergency order seeking to block the release on national security grounds, the BBC reported.

Constitutional experts said the move is unlikely to succeed and US media have already published extracts. Late on Wednesday, the Justice Department asked a judge for a hearing on Friday to stop the book's release.

 

The Trump administration argues that publication moved forward before the book could be properly vetted.

The work "still contains classified information," the Justice Department wrote in filing. "This means it contains instances of information that, if disclosed, reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage, or exceptionally grave damage, to the national security of the United States."

The White House filed another lawsuit earlier in the week against Mr Bolton on similar grounds.

Simon & Schuster, the book's publisher, has called the move "a frivolous, politically motivated exercise in futility."

"Hundreds of thousands of copies of the book have already been distributed around the country and the world," it said in a statement on Wednesday.