On June 16, 2020—a week before the book's release date—the Trump administration filed a lawsuit against Bolton in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, calling the manuscript "rife with classified information".[14] Simon & Schuster released a statement calling the lawsuit "nothing more than the latest in a long running series of efforts by the Administration to quash publication of a book it deems unflattering to the President... Simon & Schuster fully supports [Bolton's] First Amendment right to tell the story of his time in the White House to the American public".[15] On June 17, 2020, the Department of Justice filed an emergency application for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against Bolton, "seeking to enjoin publication of a book containing classified information."[16] The Department of Justice is also said to be weighing whether to criminally charge Bolton with disclosing classified information.[17]