The judge’s decision in the Trump clown parade’s attempt to block the release of John Bolton’s already-de-facto-released book has just come down.
It is as expected: nope, Billy Barr’s merry men cannot stop Bolton (and Simon and Schuster) from publishing. So Trump and Barr lose.
Good.
At the same time, Judge Royce Lambert noted that Bolton seems to have assumed that the courts would give him a pass to unilaterally drop out of the review process. No, nope, nyet, no way:
Bolton disputes that his book contains any such classified information and emphasizes his months-long compliance with the prepublication review process. He bristles* at the mixed messages sent by prepublication review personnel and questions the motives of intelligence officers. Bolton could have sued the government and sought relief in court. Instead he opted out of the review process before its conclusion. Unilateral fast tracking carried the benefit of publicity and sales, at the cost of substantial risk exposure. This was Bolton’s bet: If he is right and the book does not contain classified information, he keeps the upside mentioned above; bu tif he is wrong, he stands to lose his profits from the book deal, exposes himself to criminal liability, and imperils national security. Bolton was wrong.
Judge Lambert noted that Bolton (likely) did what the government alleges–that, as he wrote, the United States would prevail on the merits.
IANAL, but I think Bolton would argue that the classification was after-the-fact and improperly applied. My guess is that’s probably true–virtually certainly so in at least some instances. Given Lambert’s opinion, it seems likely that argument this will be tested in another court and soon. From the tenor of the last paragraph in the opinion denying the government’s request for an injuction, that may very well end badly for the mustachioed warmonger:
“Defendent Bolton** has gambled with the national security of the United States. He has exposed his country to harm and himself to civil (and potentially criminal liability…”
So there is a good chance Bolton coughs up his $2 million advance, and maybe even dons an orange jumpsuit.
Also good.
The dreamer in me has this fantasy: that Bolton, Barr, and Trump occupy three adjacent cells–and the latter two must spend their entire sentence listening to Bolton tell them how wrong they were, and right he was at every turn. All day. Can’t see to can’t see.
This is truly an instance where I am rooting for (judicial) injuries for every party.
*I’m guessing that wasn’t an accidental word choice to describe a man who has made Bolton’s facial hair choices.
**I know I should be concerned–I am!–about the chilling intent in the government’s pursuit of Bolton. But damn, “defendent Bolton” has such a lovely ring, doesn’t it.
Image: Jan van Eyck, The Just Judges (panel from the Ghent Altarpiece), between 1427-1430.
scav
It is rather getting cake and ice cream and all before breakfast on a rainy day.
Ruckus
Tom, you have a run of pure, well it sure isn’t evil but it is laced with retribution. Well earned retribution.
I like it!
Yutsano
*sigh* but I shan’t be a pedant any longer.
Bolton won’t go to jail over this. Oh he’s definitely guilty of some malfeasance in this maladministration, but this is really just petty squabbling that should be moot since the book is out the door. I’m pretty sure Barr will try if for no other reason than to get the proceeds from the book to be labeled felonious* and Bolton doesn’t get the cash.
*the process is more complicated than that but I’m basically working out three hours a day seven days a week for the next two weeks. Plus I just got coffee. So I don’t have the brainpower to get into the weeds.
MJS
“Bolton in an orange jumpsuit” will be touted as a win for Trump, because neither the media nor Trump supporters are capable of nuance, and will simply see that someone who crossed Trump went to jail. Better that the book gets published, Bolton does the interviews, and takes the financial loss.
hells littlest angel
Great. Apparently, Melania is now writing Trump’s tweets for him.
JPL
Bolton probably should have testified in front of the house first. just sayin
I agree with Tom’s list but he needs to add Rudy. Berman is at the office today.
MattF
At this point Bolton has no allies and no friends. Those who, once upon a time, might have defended him are now committed to something between disdain and loathing– e.g., Jen Rubin:
TaMara (HFG)
Hmmm….Bolton book comes out. Bolton may lose all profits.
Nope, not seeing any problems here.
Meanwhile Trump is tweeting this is a ‘win’. I won’t even embed the ravings of that mad man.
AnotherBruce
@Yutsano: You shouldn’t be a pedent either.
debbie
Bolton may regret losing the profits, but nothing matters more to him than revenge. He’ll be fine.
oatler.
That’s mighty fine Van Eyck there. You should follow up with the Arnolfini Shotgun Wedding.
japa21
I always love the administration’s, particularly those of Trump, arguments when faced with situations like these.
1. Bolton (or whomever) is a liar and nothing he/she says should be believed.
2. Bolton (or whoever) is giving away classified information.
Are they admitting to classifying lies?
Llelldorin
I do find the Trump administration’s stance here hilarious: “It’s a lie! A damnable, scurrilous lie! Also, it’s top secret!
Edited to add: japa21 beat me to it.
HinTN
@japa21:
Yes, they are.
WereBear
As someone who grew up revering the literature-nurturing legends of the publishing industry, like Thomas Wolfe’s classic being rescued from a piano crate, and the fledgling artists being shepherded along, it’s rough to realize this situation, however idealized, has collapsed like a straw house built by pigs.
No more copy editing, bulk buying so they can claim it’s a bestseller, and now journalists and officials hoarding info so they can have bombshells in their book. Instead of actually doing their job.
rikyrah
Frankensteinbeck
@HinTN:
Trump has the biggest lies, the best lies. Everybody is talking about how good his lies are. They’re beautiful, beautiful lies.
MattF
@HinTN: Well, as I understand it, the President can declare pretty much anything to be classified. And, after all, everyone acknowledges his expertise in lies and lying.
rikyrah
rikyrah
Nicole
Since you put a painting with a pretty horse in it in the post, and it’s listed as an Open Thread, I wanted to share this cool link before I forget:
https://www.paulickreport.com/news/ray-s-paddock/belmont-history-edward-brown-went-from-slave-to-jockey-to-trainer-to-owner-in-a-lifetime/?fbclid=IwAR3Xwatnj20QW02xVbI2EJKFHeiF_-ND6RJUyHxAMbwd07LmHeKftBlr2co#.Xu4SJjw_s3A.facebook
Today is the Belmont Stakes, which is running as the first of the 3 Triple Crown races this year (and at a shorter distance, for the first time since the 19th century) and the Paulick Report has decided to run a piece on a notable Black horseman in American racing history for each of the Triple Crown races. This one, about Edward Brown, is pretty cool. He won the Belmont as a jockey, the Kentucky Derby as a trainer and owned one of the big horses in foundation sires.
rikyrah
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Which Trump cronies flee the country?
Barr will stay because he’s stupid enough to think he’s bulletproof.
Giuliani will leave the moment it appears it is all sour. Tom Barrack will bail out, too.
Jinchi
The absurd thing is that Bolton could have testified to literally all of this under protection of subpoena from the House during the impeachment trial, and then published his book with the reasonable assumption that nothing in the public record was classified. By refusing to testify, because the president ordered him not to, while simultaneously pitching a book about the same facts, he demonstrated a contempt for both Congressional and Executive authority.
Ken
What do you know, rooting for injuries sometimes works.
Baud
@Jinchi:
The moustache is the Fourth Branch.
Bruce K
I suppose the best-case scenario is that every word Bolton put in that book becomes public knowledge, and neither Bolton nor anyone in the Trump maladministration ever sees a dime of profit from the book.
Well, scratch that: best-case scenario is that President Biden’s OMB director has to decide how to allocate the funds from the judicially-impounded profits from Bolton’s book.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WereBear:
There are things about the book business I was a lot happier not knowing.
Luciamia
@rikyrah: When is the Trump revival meeting due to take off?
Jinchi
If that were true, he could classify the existence of Joe Biden and enforce that judgement on anyone who attempted to print that name on a ballot.
Nicole
@Bruce K: That’s a really good best-case scenario. I will tell myself that one as a bedtime story over the next 5 months when I need to relax in order to go to sleep.
gene108
I was wondering if a sympathetic neocon Never Trumper would mass buy Bolton’s book, to make sales look better, but from Rubin’s piece I do not think it will happen.
Ken
@Luciamia: They’re going to take the temperature and give a mask to a bunch of Trump supporters. I’m anticipating that process won’t be pretty.
JPL
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Barrack will testify for the state. No way is he leaving the country.
MattF
Now, Marc ‘Village Idiot’ Thiessen has a column saying that this is the time for Trump to reach out to Black Americans. No, I didn’t read it. And no, no link. And JFC, exactly what space-time continuum is Thiessen living in?
JPL
Pence is on his way to Tulsa also and will be speaking before the president.
Ken
Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!
trnc
I thought his lawyer did argue that.
Jinchi
Given what I have heard of Bolton’s book, the most damning thing is that he saw Trump engaged in extortion and soliciting bribes not only from Ukraine, but also Turkey and China for his personal gain. Unlike the whistleblower, who raised the alarm, and the civil employees who testified to it, Bolton stayed quiet. If he had testified, it would have taken the question of impeachment well past Trump’s “perfect call” to a systemic pattern of corrupt behavior.
We already knew about Russia, and it’s highly likely Trump is also compromised with Saudi, India and Israel. Bolton’s testimony may not have changed the vote in the Senate but it would have entirely stripped Trump and his Republican backers of any semblance of legitimacy.
Ken
@JPL: Yes, that should (yawn) excite the crowd to (yawn) a fever pitch.
EDIT: He’s probably there to fill time while they semi-fill the arena and install the giant plexiglass cube.
mrmoshpotato
Republican stupidity you say?
Here you go. Sit and ummmmmm….marvel? at this.
Tom Levenson
@trnc: He did; I should have said that, and that my expectation is that this argument will be trotted out again at trial.
MattF
@Ken: So… you’re suggesting that tentacled creatures from the Dimension of Horror have gnawed on his brain. Very plausible!
mrmoshpotato
@JPL: “Are you ready to cheer on an orange shitstain who’s so obviously conning you dumbasses, but you’re too stupid and racist to realize iiiiiiit?”
West of the Rockies
Can I trade Bolton in an orange onesie for Kushner going commando in an orange haircloth onesie? Can Kushner also have a super-flatulent cell mate with anger-management issues?
mrmoshpotato
@MattF: Cthulhu wouldn’t have shit to do with Dump.
mrmoshpotato
@West of the Rockies: What. The. Fuck?
topclimber
If he has the money for good lawyers, Bolton might in fact do very well when the NDA case comes to trial. They could demand a jury trial and issue demands for discovery on how the classified decisions and pre-publication slow-walk was choreographed–and at whose direction. How many Trump loyalists in the process are going to lie for his Cheeto-ness once he is banished from the White House?
I won’t be his lawyer, because heck IANAL. But many a trial goes a different way than the legal pundits predict.
This is is a government case that can well drag on for a year or more. So much will depend on whether Biden’s AG thinks the process points to Bolton being guilty or railroaded. I count on Joe’s folk to be fair about it, however much many folks from however many camps loathe the mustache man.
PST
@JPL:
Best news I’ve heard all day.
MagdaInBlack
@mrmoshpotato:
So much for the theory that knowing folks who died changes minds.
mad citizen
@JPL: It’s an idiots’ delight night in Tulsa for sure!
There is alternative programming tonight–the Preservation Jazz Hall Band with Special Guests are doing a 3 hour (I think) show on the internets.
topclimber
@topclimber: So sad the edit option disappeared after 20 seconds and you could not fix your typos. I blame Obama!
Oh wait…now the edit function is back! Thanks Obama….and Watergirl too, I guess.
JoyceH
Since the book is essentially out, I would like the judge to give the Trump lawyers a copy of the book, with orders to go through and highlight every passage that they allege is classified, and return the book to him with documentation backing up each classification claim, said documentation to pre-date the period of the book’s classification review. And a reminder that lying to the court is a serious and criminal manner. I suspect we’d see a few lawyer resignations from the case right about then.
bemused
@mrmoshpotato:
Saw that and the guy who was wearing a diaper over his pants with message “covid my ass”. Guess he wasn’t brave enough to wear the diaper without his pants. These people never grew up beyond about 7 years old, at best. Trump’s finest people.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
area man owns libs by…. (looks at picture again)… going out in public in an adult diaper with some gibberish written on his own ass.
mrmoshpotato
@MagdaInBlack: Yeah. Tell me about it. It boggles the mind (and the bones too suggestive text. And the bones.)
Ken
“Coming this fall, a new comedy from the producers of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia…”
mrmoshpotato
@bemused:
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: And soon-to-be-infected diaper baby gave some reporter his first and last name!
Ken
@mrmoshpotato: It’s Lovecraft, there are plenty of tentacled horrors to choose from.
mrmoshpotato
@Ken: So tentacletastic is the work of Mr. Howard Phillips Lovecraft!
bemused
@mrmoshpotato:
Lolol. Of course he did, so proud of himself.
scav
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Brian Clothier is certainly sartorially living up to both his surname and his (un?)-dying admiration for the man baby!
Jinchi
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
That isn’t the first time a rightwinger has worn a diaper in public to ….. I’m gonna guess, ‘protest the nanny state’.
At some point you have to realize it’s just a twisted form of RWNJ cosplay.
scav
@Jinchi: They really have consistently been Let’s Make a Deal rejects since at least the tea party.
Feathers
@JPL: Am I wrong or did there used to be a thing about the President and Vice President not appearing together outside of the White House/Capitol? I remember someone’s funeral (Ted Kennedy?) Obama was there, but not Biden. It was explained as a security precaution.
Is this something else Trump has thrown out the window?
WaterGirl
@japa21: I used to be an advocate for rape victims, and if the case went to court, I helped them through the process, met with the state’s attorney when they met with them, went to court, etc.
What we are seeing here is exactly what we would see with the rapists. “I didn’t do it, but if I did do it, it was consensual.” That defense doesn’t look any better on these guys than it did back then.
MattF
@Feathers: Could be a show of dominance. ‘Pence will do whatever I tell him to.’
Ken
@Feathers: I thought it was a Secret Service rule, but maybe they’ve relaxed the standards. “Meh”, if you see what I mean.
catclub
@MattF: That is really amazing coming from a former arch neoCon like Jennifer Rubin. She has changed.
MisterForkbeard
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Wait, does he NORMALLY go around with his ass uncovered? Because normal people ‘mask’ their butts in public.
Brachiator
And yet, under this antic Trump regime, a foolish and capricious president cares far more about loyalty and obedience than national security and abuses governmental procedure to protect himself and to punish those who annoy him.
catclub
@Bruce K:
Kurdish refugees.
Eunicecycle
@Ken: I read that the Secret Service asked the mayor of Tulsa to have a curfew Friday and Saturday nights. Which he did. Then the orange one had a hissy, so the mayor rescinded the curfew. The Secret Service have to be counting the days until Trump is gone.
FlyingToaster
@mrmoshpotato:
Sure he would.
Cthulhu Saves — in case he’s hungry later.
Brachiator
@Jinchi:
Also exhibited contempt for the American people.
But I suppose he just wanted to maximize potential profit and minimize any potential discomfort or inconvenience.
West of the Rockies
@MisterForkbeard:
I suspect he has a thing for water sports and this gives him a chance to display his diapy in public. Probably has a binky on his person, too.
mad citizen
@Feathers: I have no knowledge, but from a practical standpoint, any random citizen would be better at leading the Executive Branch than these two idiots. Although if they were both gone instantly, isn’t that President Pelosi time?
Mohagan
@oatler.: A year ago in April I took an art history tour to Belgium and the Netherlands and the Netherlandish Flemish “primitives” were fabulous, especially Van Eyck. The museum in Brussels has a great collection and seeing “The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb” altarpiece in Ghent (of which Tom’s picture is a small panel) was wonderful. I love Hans Memling also.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mohagan: Is that Ghent altar piece made semi-famous by Monument Men?
Tom Levenson
@Mohagan: Q: “Do you like Memling?”
A: “I don’t know. I’ve never Memled.”
Sorry not sorry.
Groucho48
@Feathers: President Pelosi has a nice ring to it.
Cheryl from Maryland
Pedant alert — “The Just Judges” should be credited as after Jan van Eyck. The panel was stolen in 1934; this is a replacement copy from 1945 – cf Wikipedia –The panel was replaced in 1945 by a copy made by Belgian copyist Jef Van der Veken. Van der Veken used a two centuries old closet shelf as the painting panel. He made a copy of the missing painting on the basis of a copy that Michiel Coxie (1499-1592) had produced in the mid-sixteenth century for Philip II of Spain and was kept at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. Also, the Arnolfini wedding was not a shotgun wedding — women showed off their family’s wealth by having dresses so long they couldn’t move without pulling up the skirt.
Mohagan
@Omnes Omnibus: Yes, same one.
Mohagan
@Tom Levenson: “You’re the sorriest thing I’ve ever seen” as my mother would say :-). She was from Virginia, so it might be a Southernism. I’m from N CA, so a lot of things she said when I was growing up that I thought were just her turned out to be common Southern sayings (oh, bless her heart).
Mohagan
@Cheryl from Maryland: Absolutely correct. The judges are the only replacement panel of a never recovered stolen piece of the alter. IIRC, other panels were stolen over the centuries but eventually recovered.
James E Powell
@topclimber:
Agreed. “Mr Bolton is a patriot being persecuted by Trump’s henchmen because he is telling the truth!” And assuming he’s prosecuted or sued, it would be (we hope) the Biden administration doing it and Mr Bolton would recover all the right wing allies he used to have before he took on Trump.
hoosierspud
The thought of those 3 criminals in adjoining cells made me think of Satre’s play, “No Exit” where 3 despicable people find themselves in a room with no doors or windows and realize that they’re in hell and stuck for all of eternity with people they hate. Hell is other people.
Origuy
Re the Arnolfini wedding painting; a while back the BBC did a short series on fashion history called A Stitch in TIme where they recreated a costume from a painting. One of them was the dress in the Arnolfini painting. The series covered a lot of the background history as well as the construction of the outfits. It was presented by a very engaging fashion historian named Amber Butchart. It’s streaming on Curiosity Stream and maybe some other sites.
ETA. I didn’t follow Cheryl from Maryland’s link to the page which mentioned the show, which was written by Amber Butchart.
oatler.
@Cheryl from Maryland: I only learned about the painting from Ciaran Carson’s “Shamrock Tea” novel.
Ruckus
@mad citizen:
Any random citizen would include the guy in Tulsa wearing a diaper.
I agree with the premise that a lot of people could do a better job and probably few worse, but any random citizen of this country?
karen marie
@rikyrah: That woman did no one any favors, least of all herself. All she did was give Trump supporters ammunition for their “crazy liberal” cannon.