The Department of Justice is stepping up its efforts to block former National Security Adviser John Bolton's book from being released, even considering filing criminal charges against him.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the DOJ is debating whether to charge Bolton with disclosing classified information to stop the book from hitting store shelves. Its release is slated for June 23.
On Wednesday, the department filed a restraining order against Bolton, who worked in the Trump White House from April 2018 to September 2019. In his book, Bolton makes several accusations against the president.
Bolton's team insists that a government review of his book manuscript was completed several months ago in order to scrub it of classified information. Earlier this week, Trump said that every conversation he has with people as president is "highly classified" and noted that Bolton could be facing "a very strong criminal problem" if his book is released.