20 June 2020

Pass the Popcorn

Federal judge Judge Royce Lamberth ruled against an injunction against the publication of John Bolton's tell-all memoir.
This was not a particularly deep ruling, it was just a recognition of reality, which was that with over one hundred thousand prepublications circulating, nothing in the book is a secret any more.

The judge also noted that this does not mean that Bolton is in the right, and that he is likely to lose any profits and advances from the book, as well as facing civil and criminal sanctions.

All in all, it's a wonderful ruling, because the first and second most horrible people on earth* both lose:
President Trump’s former national security adviser John R. Bolton can go forward with the publication of his memoir, a federal judge ruled on Saturday, rejecting the administration’s request for an order that he try to pull the book back and saying it was too late for such an order to succeed.

“With hundreds of thousands of copies around the globe — many in newsrooms — the damage is done. There is no restoring the status quo,” wrote Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the Federal District Court of the District of Columbia.

But in a 10-page opinion, Judge Lamberth also suggested that Mr. Bolton may be in jeopardy of forfeiting his $2 million advance, as the Justice Department has separately requested — and that he could be prosecuted for allowing the book to be published before receiving final notice that a prepublication review to scrub out classified information was complete.
I am amused.

*If I was forced to choose whether to let Trump or Bolton die, I would ask for the Dion Sanders option.
Both.

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