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>The streets will not be safe for them.

Bolton bombshell sets off a whodunit frenzy

News of the former national security adviser's manuscript has everyone blaming everyone else for leaking.

John Bolton

Former national security adviser John Bolton’s handling of his role in the Ukraine scandal has been a topic of much speculation in Washington. | Win McNamee/Getty Images

By Daniel Lippman, Natasha Bertrand and Meridith McGraw01/27/2020 05:20 PM EST

The White House and John Bolton’s team agree on this much, at least: It wasn’t us.

As the explosive news of the former national security adviser’s forthcoming book ricochets across Washington — it reportedly accuses the president of tying military aid to Ukraine to investigations of Democrats — each side in the emerging dispute is begging off responsibility for leaking to the New York Times.

Understanding the sourcing behind the story could shine light on whether those who shared information with the Times were motivated to influence the Senate impeachment trial, or — as Republicans suggested on Monday, they were merely trying to juice Bolton’s book sales. And it could clarify whether top White House officials were aware of Bolton’s allegations, with several GOP senators telling reporters they felt blindsided by the story.

Even Mitch McConnell felt compelled to issue a statement through a spokesman who said the Senate majority leader “did not have any advance notice” of Bolton’s manuscript and its contents.

Bolton’s side was the first to play the blame game on Sunday evening, with his lawyer Chuck Cooper sharing a letter he had sent to the White House official in charge of reviewing outside publications for classified information. The letter, dated Dec. 30, asked Ellen Knight of the National Security Council Records Management Division to restrict access to “those career government officials and employees regularly charged with responsibility for such reviews.”

“It is clear, regrettably, from The New York Times article published today that the pre-publication review process has been corrupted and that information has been disclosed by persons other than those properly involved in reviewing the manuscript,” Cooper wrote in an accompanying statement.

The letter’s release seemed aimed at deflecting blame from Bolton for leaking, given that the Times story said the former national security adviser had circulated his draft to “close associates” and noted that “multiple people described Mr. Bolton’s account of the Ukraine affair.”

On Monday morning, the White House fired back with a spare statement of its own.

“Ambassador Bolton’s manuscript was submitted to the NSC for pre-publication review and has been under initial review by the NSC,” the council’s spokesman John Ullyot said. “No White House personnel outside NSC have reviewed the manuscript.”

Ullyot did not clarify, however, whether other White House aides had been briefed on its contents, expanding the scope of potential leakers. Nor did he respond to questions about whether White House lawyers were aware of Bolton’s claims as they launched their impeachment defense of the president.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/27/john-bolton-book-impeachment-trial-106714