Bolton’s book, “The Room Where It Happened” recounts his 17-month tenure serving the Trump administration.
He alleges that the president consistently prioritized his re-election and his family’s well-being ahead of the national interest when he made decisions.
Trump Accuses Bolton of Being a Sick Puppy
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2020
Bolton Says Trump Not Fit for Office
Bloomberg reports Bolton Says Trump Not Fit for Office, Lacks the ‘Competence’ to Be President
Emergency Request to Halt Publication
District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington considers the government’s emergency request to stop the release of the former national security adviser’s book sharply critical of President Trump.
The Justice Department sued Mr. Bolton earlier this week, accusing him of violating his employment agreements with the government by including classified information in the manuscript. On Wednesday, it asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order and injunction to block publication, and sought the Friday hearing.
Bolton Counters
Mr. Bolton’s attorneys argue that he had fulfilled his nondisclosure obligations once Ms. Knight confirmed on April 27 that there was no classified information in the revised manuscript, and that Mr. Trump and his administration sought to delay publication by withholding the pro forma letter certifying the review was done.
“If the First Amendment stands for anything, it is that the Government does not have the power to clasp its hand over the mouth of a citizen attempting to speak on a matter of great public import,” the attorneys wrote.
Realistically, What Can Trump Do?
People have already reviewed the book and thousands of copies of the book were printed in Australia and the United Kingdom.
Also, thousands more shipped to Canada and India for sale next week. How is Trump going to stop those?
Classified Material
Trump says the book contains classified material.
What in the Book?
Here are the Eight Alleged Bombshells.
- Trump pleaded with China to help win the 2020 election
- Trump suggested he was open to serving more than two terms
- Trump offered favors to authoritarian leaders
- Trump praised Xi for China’s internment camps
- Trump defended Saudi Arabia to distract from a story about Ivanka
- Trump’s top staff mocked him behind his back
- Trump thought Finland was part of Russia
- Trump thought it would be ‘cool’ to invade Venezuela
I suspect book is going to be a complete anticlimax flop as well as an embarrassment to Bolton and Trump.
We will find out soon enough as there is no chance of stopping the release globally.
Mish
Bolton: The president’s refusal to respond to Iran’s shootdown of a US military drone with a full-scale bombing raid on Iranian military “the most irrational thing” he had ever witnessed from an American leader.
Who wants to discuss a book from this sicko?
Little facts: the US sent a drone and a Poseidon spy plane over Iran as a provocation. Iran warned the Poseidon to get out of there, then targeted the drone.
Because of their desire to control outcomes by hiring the incompetent or inexperienced or politically controllable, the Trump admin screwed up in the security review by having a person who had NO experience in security review do the review. In fact, that person only received certification to do that sort of review a day or so after the review was completed.
The attempt at firing the SDNY US Attorney last night is a recognition of the growing precariousness of Trump’s position and also an attempt to bring to pass a promise (disclosed in Bolton’s book) that President Trump had told Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2018 that he could help make an SDNY investigation into the Turkish bank Halkbank go away. Recall also that Trump is an un-indicted co-conspirator in the Stormy Daniels deal–no immunity after presidency. Why else replace the US Attorney with a guy with no prosecution experience?
Trump has always has a strangely deferential outlook toward Turkey (remember his bowing to their wishes in Syria) and Kusher has a lot of personal an money ties to the Turkish power structure).
It all is such a tangled ball of greasy yarn with him…
Long time reader here Mish, but you are losing me. 7 out of the last 10 posts have been about Trump. Most responses in the comment section are about Trump. The blog used to be 90% economics and taught me a lot. There are many other sites with political content, not as many with your perspective on economics. You have not yet lost a reader but you are coming close, Mish. This may be a numbers issue regarding clicks, I won’t speculate. I appreciate you and thanks for listening.
Let’s not look at this superficially — the way the corrupt PTB want.
How much truth does anyone expect to gain from listening in on a conversation between two liars?
Bolton doesn’t need money. The commotion over this book is going raise attention to it’s “content”. Is that content chosen to agitate Americans into hating China the way we were told to hate Russia for 5 years and running? Or is it for some other purpose? I haven’t read it and won’t, because I expect nothing of use from a mass-murdering scumbag like Bolton.
All this nonsense. We are all better off learning about independent political candidates or becoming one ourselves. Stop paying attention to these fucks.
This book could be used to defuse some issues Democrats could have used against Trump in the election. Bolton is helping the Republicans take control of a narrative.
I doubt one in five here is willing or able to get through a serious legal analysis of the case that went before a federal judge in the DC yesterday, but for Mish and the 20% who are interested enough and able to understand this series of questions in a legal framework, this is Lawfare’s very pointed questions they see as facing the judge:
Questions for the Government in the Bolton Book TRO Hearing(s)
By Jack Goldsmith, Marty Lederman Thursday, June 18, 2020, 8:12 PM
And what I think after reading this is that CLEARLY some of what Bolton included in his book was “classified” after the review process was begun, a process that has been intentionally dragged out for as long as possible with the intention of minimizing or possibly even preventing very embarrassing damage to Trump, his family, or appointees that are appointed upon political grounds and not based on their expertise in any field of security or governance. Because Bolton made a number or cuts to his manuscript based upon the recommendation of the reviewer who was checking it for potential inclusion of secret or classified information.
We can reasonably suspect that no matter how we feel about Bolton or his politics he is a savvy and highly intelligent as well as experienced member of the national security apparatus at the highest levels. If you were to believe that he intentionally included classified information in his book for the mere consideration of how much money he could make by publishing then you would have to accuse him of being a traitor. And it is because of his afore mentioned qualities and known patriotism that I say I do not believe that for a moment. I don’t like the guy at all and feel he should have testified before the house hearings into the impeachment of Trump, but, I would never in my wildest dreams accuse him of betraying secret information to our enemies for money.
Some people do not understand that Donald Trump does NOT have either the knowledge and training to classify information, nor is he even apparently aware that we have laws relating to the classification of information when he says that as far as he is concerned ALL conversations with him are classified.
In fact as stated in the article at Lawfare; “Section 1.7 of Executive Order 13526 provides that information may not be classified in order to, inter alia, conceal violations of law, inefficiency or administrative error; prevent embarrassment to a person, organization or agency; or prevent or delay the release of information that does not require protection in the interest of the national security.”
The decision by the administration to file an injunction request and suit claiming inclusion of not only classified information but Top Secret Compartmentalized Information in the book came only after NSC had reviewed the manuscripts, and Bolton made the recommended changes. How could both an experienced Bolton and the NSC team of reviewers have missed any classified information no less top secret compartmentalized information unless that was classified AFTER the review was complete, and these are people who should know what would and would not be considered harmful information to the nation.
I believe that the political appointees either put in by Trump or who want to keep their jobs under Trump’s administration filed their objections to the book’s contents for reasons that have literally NOTHING to do with national security.
And I also believe that the book has to contain a lot of information that is embarrassing to the president and outlines his fundamental lack of qualification for office. Not only that but it very certainly also calls out some of Trump’s appointees as not only unqualified for their positions but also Trump’s own family and the degree to which they have been vested with powers as unappointed and thus not vetted government agents. All of whom are incompetent and who will be extremely humiliated by Bolton’s contentions.
I think what we are going to see are quotes from the top echelon of government, Trump himself at the top of the pile, which are extremely careless comments about foreign leadership from the UK to China to North Korea, comments which by themselves are offensive but otherwise opinions that do not rise to the level of secrets. But which after the fact could impact future relations with both allies and enemies. Because it is a well known fact that Trump has no impulse control and the temperament of a two year old with diaper rash, it is highly likely that Bolton witnessed some of Trump’s more insane moments as he related to national security and that would be about as embarrassing as information comes to the person of Trump and his lackeys and family, as to foreign officials that will be offended that is unfortunate but it simply does not rise to the level of destroying US security or even Bolton’s own first amendment rights to document and publish his experience in the administration. If it did all of us would never get any truth again since it would all be classified as embarrassing to the administration.
Who knows, maybe this is the key to Trump’s style of government, just make sure every conversation is so hyperbolic and over the top embarrassing that none of it can ever get published because it will threaten national security if it does ever see the light of day. So we have to kill the first amendment and classify without rules or standards everything Trump says or does, and those who try to publish anyway will find they are stopped via frivolous legal actions every step of the way.
One thing is certain, even people who detest Bolton and his decades of Neocon far right authoritarianism will be handing over money to read this now. All Trump and his cronys are doing is making sure that this is one of the best selling books since the Bible.
Another example of NO HONOR AMONG THIEVES
Both are crooked characters. one is an idiot and another – warmonger
Sure, Bolton put all the crap in writing and firmly exposed it. Where are all the other highly respected (not that Bolton was in the least bit respected) first hand accounts of Trumps shenanigans? Too many best of the best remained quiet and submissive. What the hey?
You must have missed statements by Gen. Mattis, Admirals Mullen and Mcraven, Sec State Rex Tillerson and every chief of staff Trump fired – just to name a few.
How can the book contain classified information and also be a lie?
Seems like a conundrum.
that is a very good question. trump’s lies are classified?
Trump relies on the double sided coin all the time. Heads he wins tails you lose. It’s only confusing because it is a puerile dimension and he is of adult age, so we expect more from him.
That’s a good question and I thought it pertinent until I watched an interview on CNN when the anchor asked that same question. A different angle to look at is, the statement as a whole in the book may be a lie with a “nugget” of truth to it. The lie can’t be refuted in public because to do so could reveal how intel is acquired. The example given was during the time Kim Jung Un was MIA earlier this year and there were rumors flying around that he was Brain Dead, had an operation etc.. The intel community knew he was alive & well but to reveal that to the public would have revealed to NK that they had intel and how they’d obtained it on KJU.
Nice try, but no prize for you. If it’s all lies, it can’t be classified. Only things that are true can be classified, If Bolton’s book said Kim was dead and resurrected, that could not be “classified information.”
99.9% of what is classified information forms no threat to anything to do with national security but exposes Government in a harsh light, as did the revelations from WikiLeaks … government conspiring in secret and illegal ways and routinely flouting laws. For Trump to throw a few tidbits in there with the rest of the secrets is a big yawn.
Nothing Bolton can say about Trump’s antics will be very shocking, we already have more than enough material on what a buffoon he is. What is completely NOT shocking though are allegations about putting elections ahead of international diplomacy etc. Those are the kinds of things that are routine and common for politicians and are not unique to Trump.
The difference is Trump is trying to say its classified while asking Xi to help win reelection. Trump simply believes he is above the law. Trump really wants everything both ways. Trump has never put anyone but himself above it all. While other politicians may be nefarious or two faced they are nowhere near the same zip code when it comes to Trump-level narcissism.
Possibly on the same continent or even galaxy.
Bolton is no saint. If he cared about the country he would have testified in public in January during the impeachment proceedings. Trump is the truly sick puppy. Tonight he tries to have Barr fire the prosecutor of SDNY that prosecuted Lev Parnas and Giuliani associates along with Michael Cohen. It looks like SDNY is getting closer to the body bags and all the Trump lies. Firday night attempted firings are usually done if someone is close to finding out the truth.
Trump will complete a new book in record speed.
The New Art of the Deal: How I Made China Great Again through Soybeans and other things.
Next Trump will say that his tweets are a matter of national security. But at the same time they will also need to be readable.
#covfefe!
Nothing new from this book. We knew tRump was an idiot who put his personal interests above the USA and the mankind.We knew he would do anything and everything for his re-election.
“Tell-all memoirs” how quaint, maybe he should have chosen a different title, like “How I remember all those people we got killed in Iraq”.
“The room where it happened” just sounds like a sleazy version of “De-coupling from China”.
Trump doesn’t read, just watches television and listens to people in the echo chamber. Bolton is opinionated if nothing else. Trump likes to pit his staff against each other so, hey, why not. I wouldn’t look for any reason, Trump just does the next thing that pops into his head so there probably isn’t a reason. Certainly not any sort of strategy. Just one brain fart after another.
“John Loengard, the picture editor at Life, always used to tell me, ”If you want something to look interesting, don’t light all of it.”
― Joe McNally