Official says White House political appointees "commandeered" Bolton book review

A former career official at the National Security Council claims her pre-publication review of former national security adviser John Bolton's explosive book on President Trump was "commandeered by political appointees for a seemingly political purpose," according to a letter from her lawyers filed in court on Tuesday.

Why it matters: The White House fought against the publication of Bolton's book for most of the year on the grounds that it contained harmful and "significant amounts of classified information."

According to Knight's lawyers, White House aides falsely asserted that details in the book were classified to keep it from being published, the New York Times reports.
Bolton has similarly alleged that the White House abused the prepublication review process to prevent the disclosure of embarrassing information about Trump.