The United States on Tuesday sued former national security advisor John Bolton, seeking to block him from publishing a book about his time in the White House that it said contained classified information and would compromise national security.

The Department of Justice alleged in its suit, filed in federal court in Washington, that the publication of the book risks "compromising national security" through revelation of classified information that Bolton had access to during his turbulent 17-month stint in the White House.

The suit says Bolton failed to have the text vetted, meaning his book would be in "clear breach of agreements he signed as a condition of his employment and as a condition of gaining access to highly classified information."

The civil lawsuit came one day after President Donald Trump said Bolton would be breaking the law if the book were published.

Trump fired Bolton last September after roughly 17 months as national security adviser.

Trump told reporters on Monday that Bolton knows he has classified information in his book, and that he had not completed a clearing process required for any book written by former government officials who had access to sensitive information.

"I will consider every conversation with me as president highly classified. So that would mean that if he wrote a book and if the book gets out, he's broken the law," Trump said.

Attorney General William Barr said the Justice Department was trying to get Bolton to complete the clearance process and "make the necessary deletions of classified information."

Bolton's book "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir," is set to be published on June 23.

Read more: Trump says ex-adviser Bolton breaks law if he publishes book

The publisher, Simon and Schuster, said in a news release on Friday the book provides an insider account of Trump's "inconsistent, scattershot decision-making process."

The book details Trump's dealings with China, Russia, Ukraine, North Korea (the DPRK), Iran, Britain, France and Germany, the publisher said.

"This is the book Donald Trump doesn't want you to read," Simon and Schuster said.

(With input from Reuters, AFP)