BROADCASTS.com

John Bolton, former national security adviser to President Trump, wrote a book,\\u201cThe Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir.\\u201d The book offers a portrait of President Trump as an erratic and ignorant leader who often places his own personal whims above the national interest.

But whether Americans will get to read the book is the subject of an escalating legal battle between Bolton and the Justice Department. The White House says the book contains classified material. Bolton\\u2019s attorney says the book doesn\\u2019t and that the material underwent a rigorous government review process.

First, on Tuesday, the administration filed a civil lawsuit against Bolton, a conservative who has worked in Republican administrations for decades and was a longtime contributor to Fox News. 

Then late Wednesday, things escalated when the Justice Department sought an emergency order from a judge to block the book\\u2019s publication altogether.

The Washington Post, meanwhile, obtained a copy of Bolton\\u2019s memoir. On this episode of the\\u201cCan He Do That?\\u201d podcast, White House reporter Josh Dawsey explains what\\u2019s in the book, what the fallout has looked like thus far, and whether it will have much political influence as we get closer to the 2020 presidential election.

Related reading