DOJ Wants Details on 'Anonymous' Trump Book Author

It sends letter to publisher of 'A Warning'
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 4, 2019 2:03 PM CST
DOJ Wants Details on Book About Trump by 'Anonymous'
In this Oct. 24, 2019 file photo, President Donald Trump stands during a Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony for auto racing great Roger Penske in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A strong warning from the Justice Department about A Warning. That's the book written by an anonymous current or former senior Trump administration official who first splashed onto the scene with a 2018 New York Times op-ed. CNN reports the book is set to drop Nov. 19, and the DOJ on Monday sent a letter to the book's publisher and the author's agents. "If the author is, in fact, a current or former 'senior official' in the Trump Administration, publication of the book may violate that official's legal obligations under one or more nondisclosure agreements," assistant attorney general Joseph Hunt wrote in the letter, delivered to the Hachette Book Group and Javelin agents Matt Latimer and Keith Urbahn. The DOJ seeks representations that NDAs were not signed and that the author didn't have access to classified info via his or her job.

"If you cannot make those representations, we ask that you immediately provide either the nondisclosure agreements the author signed or the dates of the author's service and the agencies where the author was employed, so that we may determine the terms of the author's nondisclosure agreements and ensure that they have been followed," the letter continues. Hachette says it will not comply because it isn't a party on any such NDAs with the government and that it intends to uphold the promise of confidentiality it made to the author. NBC News has this from Javelin: "We support the publisher in its resolve that the administration's effort to intimidate and expose the senior official who has seen misconduct at the highest levels will not prevent this book from moving forward." (More President Trump stories.)

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