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Wednesday, 19 February 2020

John Bolton Worries White House Will ‘Suppress’ His Upcoming Memoir

Donald Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton is now openly worrying about his upcoming memoir being censored by the White House.
Speaking before an audience at Duke University on Monday, Bolton lamented that the White House may suppress his much-anticipated memoir, which will touch upon hot-button issues, such as the president’s dealing with Ukraine.
“For all the focus on Ukraine and the impeachment trial and all that, to me, there are portions of the manuscript that deal with Ukraine, I view that like the sprinkles on the ice cream sundae in terms of what’s in the book,” Bolton told the audience, according to The New York Times. “This is an effort to write history and I did it the best I can. We’ll have to see what comes out of the censorship.”
“I’m hoping ultimately I can get the book published,” he added. “I hope it’s not suppressed.”
During the same talk, Bolton said that Trump’s North Korea policy was “a wasted two years”  and that talks to denuclearize the Kim Jong Un’s regime “are doomed to failure” since his only goal is to “break free” of sanctions.
“It was perfectly evident it was going to fail,” Bolton said, as reported by The Daily Beast. “There is not a single piece of evidence that the government of North Korea has made a strategic decision to give up the pursuit of nuclear weapons.”
Prior to the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump, The New York Times reported on a leaked manuscript of Bolton’s book about his time working in the Trump administration. In the book, Bolton reportedly alleged that President Trump told him to freeze the $391 million in military aid to Ukraine until officials agreed to investigate Joe Biden’s corruption and 2016 election meddling. The leak prompted Senate Democrats to demand that Bolton be called to testify in the impeachment trial, which Republicans blocked from happening.
Bolton has taken heat from various sections of the GOP for his memoir. Even his former chief of staff wrote a scathing op-ed for Fox News denouncing the book for setting a “dangerous precedent” while demanding he withdraw it from publication until after the 2020 election.
“It was crushing to read weekend press reports that my friend and former boss John Bolton plans to publish a tell-all book on his time as President Trump’s National Security Advisor,” Fred Fleitz wrote. “The book reportedly will be published in March 2020. Given the importance of protecting a president’s confidential discussions with his senior advisers, I strongly disagree with Bolton’s decision to release the book before the November presidential election and call on him to withdraw it from the publisher immediately.”
“Presidents must be able to candidly consult with their advisers without worrying they will leak these discussions to the press or obtain high-dollar book contracts to publish them,” Fleitz continued. “A book by a former national security advisor ahead of a president’s reelection bid may set a dangerous precedent since it could discourage future presidents from seeking advice from expert advisers on sensitive national security matters.”

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