US President Donald Trump on Monday said that his former national security adviser, John Bolton, could face a “criminal problem” if he doesn’t halt plans to publish a new book that describes scattershot, sometimes dangerous, decision-making by a president focused only on getting re-elected.

Trump said that it would be up to Attorney General William Barr to issue any charges, but hinted that the matter would end up in court. “We’ll see what happens. They’re in court — or they’ll soon be in court,” Trump said about the book, set to be released early next week.

The President accused Bolton of not completing a pre-publication review to make sure the book does not contain classified material.

During an event at the White House, the attorney general said administration officials who have access to sensitive information typically sign non-disclosure agreements that require them to go through a clearance process before they can publish something based on information they accessed in the job.

“We don’t believe that Bolton went through that process — hasn’t completed the process — and, therefore, is in violation of that agreement,” Barr said.

He said he sent Bolton’s manuscript to classification specialist Ellen Knight on December 30, 2019. Knight and Bolton, who was Trump’s national security adviser for 18 months ending September 10, 2019, spent nearly four months going through the nearly 500-page book multiple times, “often line by line,” Cooper said.

In a March 27 letter, Knight thanked Bolton for his efforts to address the classification issues, but said additional edits were required to ensure national security information was protected. She outlined her concerns in 17 single-spaced pages of typed comments, Cooper said.

He said Bolton worked through that weekend and sent Knight a response the following Monday. Bolton accepted most of Knight’s suggestions and proposed alternative solutions to others, Cooper said.

In April this year, after resolving a shorter list of remaining issues, it appeared that the pre-publication review process had been finalised.

Earlier this month, Bolton got a letter from John Eisenberg, the president’s deputy counsel for national security, who claimed that Bolton’s manuscript still contained classified information and that publishing the book would violate his nondisclosure agreements.

“This is a transparent attempt to use national security as a pretext to censor Mr. Bolton, in violation of his constitutional right to speak on matters of the utmost public import,” according to Cooper. “This attempt will not succeed, and Mr. Bolton’s book will be published June 23.”

In Januray, Trump had slammed John Bolton, a potentially damaging witness at his Senate impeachment trial, amid White House efforts to block publication of an explosive book by the former national security advisor.

On January 7, Bolton had said that he is willing to testify in the expected Senate impeachment trial of the president, a surprise development that could complicate a weeks-long dispute over how the trial would play out.

Last year, in September, President Trump had fired Bolton, who was known for his hardline stances on Washington’s archenemies, particularly Iran, North Korea and Venezuela. He was replaced by Robert C O’Brien.

(With inputs from agency)