Bolton book injunction will 'accomplish nothing', says S&S

Simon & Schuster intends to go ahead with the publication of former national security advisor John Bolton's The Room Where it Happened, despite the US government's request for an injunction.

The book - a political expose which includes claims that Donald Trump asked China to assist him in the 2020 election and praised Chinese premier Xi Jinping's internment of Uighur muslims in detention camps—is scheduled for publication in both the US and UK on 23rd June. 

In response to the injunction request, issued yesterday (17th June), the publisher released a statement calling the move "a frivolous, politically motivated exercise in futility". S&S said: "Hundreds of thousands of copies of John Bolton’s book have already been distributed around the country and the world. The injunction as requested by the government would accomplish nothing."

Department of Justice officials are said to have requested an emergency hearing tomorrow (19th June), ahead of the scheduled publication date. In a statement released by the department, it is claimed the book could "reasonably" be expected to "cause serious damage, or exceptionally grave damage" to US national security. 

The brief also stated: "To ensure that the injunction cannot be circumvented, the injunction should also prohibit the defendant from proceeding with the publication of his book in any form or media, require defendant to notify his publisher that the book contains classified information that he was not authorised to disclose, instruct his publisher to delay the release date of the book, and to instruct his publisher to take any and all available steps to retrieve and destroy any copies of the book that may be in the possession of any third party."

Adam Rothberg, senior vice-president of corporate communications at S&S US, suggested the lawsuit filed was "nothing more than the latest in a long running series of efforts by the administration to quash publication of a book it deems unflattering to the president". He added that Bolton had worked "in full co-operation" with the White House National Security Council in its pre-publication review, and that S&S "fully supports his first amendment right to tell the story of his time in the White House".