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Justice Department drops lawsuit, investigation over John Bolton memoir

The Justice Department on Wednesday dropped a lawsuit and investigation initiated by the Trump administration over former national security adviser John Bolton's memoir. File Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI
The Justice Department on Wednesday dropped a lawsuit and investigation initiated by the Trump administration over former national security adviser John Bolton's memoir. File Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI | License Photo

June 16 (UPI) -- The Justice Department on Wednesday dropped a lawsuit and criminal investigation involving former national security adviser John Bolton's book about his time in the Trump administration.

The department dismissed the lawsuit launched by the previous administration which sought royalties for Bolton's memoir The Room Where It Happened for publishing it without the full approval of the Trump administration.

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A criminal investigation into whether the book disclosed classified information was also dropped by the department, Politico reported.

The decision comes one year after the Trump Justice Department sued to block the book's release saying it was "rife with classified information" and releasing it would be a breach of his employment with the White House.

A federal judge declined to block the memoir's release, saying that Bolton "likely jeopardized national security" but noting the book had already been "printed, bound and shipped across the country."

The book, which covered Bolton's time as a national security adviser in Trump's White House from April 2018 to September 2019, was released a week later and painted the former president as corrupt and solely focused on re-election "even if it meant endangering or weakening the nation."

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Bolton's attorney, Charles Cooper, praised the decision in a statement to CNN, saying the cases against his client appeared to be politically motivated.

"We argued from the outset that neither action was justifiable, because they were initiated only as a result of President Trump's politically motivated order to prevent publication of the Ambassador's book before the 2020 election," Cooper said.

"By ending these proceedings without in any way penalizing Ambassador Bolton or limiting his proceeds from the book, the Department of Justice has tacitly acknowledged that President Trump and his White House officials acted illegitimately."

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