John Bolton, former National Security Advisor to President Trump, wrote a book.

That book called The Room Where It Happened, a White House memoir, 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 that 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's attorney says the book doesn't and that the material underwent a rigorous

government review process.

First, on Tuesday, the administration filed a civil lawsuit against Bolton, a conservative

who's 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's publication altogether.

The Washington Post, meanwhile, obtained a copy of Bolton's memoir.

So on this episode, we'll tell you what's in it, 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.

This is Ken Yee Do That, a podcast that explores the powers and limitations of the American presidency.

I'm Allison Michaels.

White House reporter Josh Dossie read Bolton's memoir and wrote about it for the post.

So we'll get into the details of the book in a second, but can you just lay out the

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