Steve Schmidt

U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth has rejected the Trump administration's request to delay the publication of Bolton's memoir "The Room Where It Happened". Judge Lamberth stated that the government had "failed to establish that an injunction will prevent irreparable harm," therefore he denied the motion and added that "with hundreds of thousands of copies around the globe — many in newsrooms — the damage is done".

Bolton was heavily criticised by Lamberth, who accused him of gambling with "national security of the United States" and further exposing the US to "harm and himself to civil (and potentially criminal) liability".

Shortly after the verdict, Trump took to Twitter where he wrote: "I finally agree with failed political consultant Steve Schmidt, who called Wacko John Bolton 'a despicable man who failed in his duty to protect America.'"