Feds Subpoena John Bolton’s Publisher, PR Firm for Communication Related to Handling of Classified Information in His Book

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A grand jury has reportedly subpoenaed former White House National Security Adviser John Bolton’s literary agent and public-relations firm for their communications with Bolton, in connection to his handling of classified information detailed in his book published in June.

The subpoenas were issued to Simon & Schuster and to Javelin, according to multiple reports on Tuesday citing unnamed officials. The development indicates Justice Department prosecutors have brought the matter before a grand jury to consider allegations mishandled classified information published in his book, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir.

“We are aware of reports that grand jury subpoenas have been issued seeking information concerning the publication of Ambassador Bolton’s recent book,” Bolton’s attorney, Charles Cooper, said in a statement. “Ambassador Bolton emphatically rejects any claim that he acted improperly, let alone criminally, in connection with the publication of his book, and he will cooperate fully, as he has throughout, with any official inquiry into his conduct.”

The Justice Department filed a civil lawsuit against Bolton in June asking a judge to block his book’s publication, alleging he had not cleared it through the proper channels. Federal officials in sensitive positions involving classified information are typically require to seek approval from their former employers before publishing anything related to their work.

The National Security Council “has determined that the manuscript in its present form contains certain passages — some up to several paragraphs in length — that contain classified national security information,” the Justice Department alleged at the time. “In fact, the NSC has determined that information in the manuscript is classified at the Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret levels. Accordingly, the publication and release of The Room Where it Happened would cause irreparable harm, because the disclosure of instances of classified information in the manuscript reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage, or exceptionally grave damage, to the national security of the United States.”

U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth denied the department’s request based on the fact Bolton’s book had already been printed and shipped, but said the federal government may have a case. “While Bolton’s unilateral conduct raises grave national security concerns, the government has not established that an injunction is an appropriate remedy,” Lamberth wrote. “The damage is done.”

Bolton’s attorneys wrote that the feds failed to make a good-faith effort to clear Bolton’s book in a timely manner, writing in a court filing, “The facts in the public record overwhelmingly indicate that the government violated” its obligation to act in good faith “by undertaking and conducting the second, and unprecedented, further prepublication review … for the political purpose of suppressing, or at least delaying until after the 2020 election, the publication of a book that reported facts portraying President Trump in an unfavorable and embarrassing light.”

Federal prosecutors in that case have asked Lamberth to order that any proceeds from the book’s sales be diverted to a federal trust, a matter on which Lambeth has yet to rule. The subpoenas issued by a grand jury indicate officials are probing evidence that would enable them to bring criminal charges in addition to the civil suit, though prosecutions related to the mishandling of classified information are exceedingly rare.

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