John Bolton files motion to dismiss Trump lawsuit over explosive memoir revealing his time in White House
JOHN Bolton has moved to dismiss the Justice Department's lawsuit to stop the publication of his upcoming tell-all book.
The 71-year-old former national security adviser filed a motion in court on Thursday in response to the Justice Department's action against him for "failure to state a claim."
The "failure to state a claim" defense asserts that even if all the factual allegations in a complaint are true, they're not enough to establish a cause of action that would lead to a legal solution, according to .
In an accompanying filing, is a "regrettable pretext designed to cover up what is in fact a determined political effort to suppress Ambassador speech."
"But the Court need not, and indeed cannot, reach the First Amendment issues raised by the Government's request for a prior restraint," the filing obtained by Politico reads.
"The practical reality is that neither Ambassador Bolton nor his publisher, Simon & Schuster, has any ability to stop copies from being sold to the general public on June 23."
Bolton confirmed that 200,000 copies of The Room Where It Happened are already bound and distributed to retailers, per Politico.
"The Government cannot plausibly argue that Ambassador Bolton has the power to stop the delivery trucks in America, unshelve the copies in , commandeer the copies in , and repossess the copies sent to reviewers or in the possession of major newspapers," the motion reads.
Bolton was axed from his position last fall after nearly 17 months in the after he and the president disagreed on foreign policy changes in the Middle East and North Korea.
His 592-page tell-all is expected to touch on Trump's impeachment last December and provide a first-hand account of the president's conduct.
As Bolton filed his motion, White House trade adviser and branded the ex-NSA "Big Lie Bolton."
"My take on Big Lie Bolton, it's Book Deal Bolton, he is doing it for the money, that is pretty clear, and my view is it is the Washington swamp's equivalent of revenge porn," Navarro told reporters outside the White House on Thursday.
MOST READ IN NEWS
In his book, Bolton claims that in November.
Bolton also wrote that the president .
The book was originally set to be published earlier this year, but it was reportedly met with delays as it passed through prepublication reviews by the National Security Council.