Former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton, abruptly fired by President Donald Trump last September due to disagreements over foreign policies, said on Monday that he was now fighting "censorship" by the White House, referring to his new book.
The White House cited "significant amounts of classified information" that could be harmful to the country's national security late January, saying the book cannot be published in its current form.
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"I hope it's not suppressed," Bolton told the audience in a foreign policy forum at Duke University. This marked the former diplomat's first public appearance since the Senate impeachment trial. "I say things in the manuscript about what he (Trump) said to me," he said, adding "I hope they become public someday."
According to CNN, Bolton and his lawyers have been in a battle with the White House regarding the content of the book for weeks.
'Far more relevations on Ukraine'
"For all the focus on Ukraine and the impeachment trial and all that, to me, there are portions of the manuscript that deal with Ukraine, I view that like the sprinkles on the ice cream sundae in terms of what's in the book," Bolton said in the forum.
Ukraine was thrust center stage in a domestic political battle in Washington last year as Trump faced down allegations that he pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate the son of his Democratic rival Joe Biden. The Senate earlier this month voted to acquit the president seven weeks after Trump's impeachment.
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"This is an effort to write history and I did it the best I can. We'll have to see what comes out of the censorship," Bolton said.
Yet the former U.S. diplomat has refused to elaborate on the Ukraine matter.
When asked by a student in the audience his thought on Trump's July 25 phone call pressuring the Ukraine President to investigate whether Democrats were "perfect," Bolton smiled. "You'll love Chapter 14," he said.