"The horse, as we used to say in Texas, seems to be out of the barn," quipped Washington DC District Court Judge Royce Lamberth. "It certainly looks difficult to me about what I can do about those books all over the country."
Bolton's lawyer, Chris Cooper, argued at the hearing that nothing in Bolton's disclosure contract with the White House commits the author and publisher to consent to an additional judicial review such as that which Trump is attempting.
"There is nothing that contractually binds us to judicial review," he said.
Lamberth questioned Cooper, however, suggesting that Bolton had "turned his back" on the government review process, noting that Bolton had not taken any legal action to end or expedite the review process.
Some 200,000 copies of the book have already been sent to book stores across the US and most big media companies in the country now have their own review copies, Politico said on Friday.