The Justice Department is pressuring the Hachette Book Group to reveal the identity of the “senior official” in the Trump White House who is purportedly behind “A Warning.”
The book with the anonymous author was trending as the No. 1 book on Amazon’s hot list as of Tuesday in advance of its Nov. 19 publication. Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr.’s book, “Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us,” also published by Hachette, debuted at No. 3 on Amazon on its Tuesday publication date.
Hachette said it plans to go ahead with the launch of “A Warning” and distribute at least 500,000 copies.
The DOJ also asked that the literary agents representing the anonymous author—Matt Latimer and Keith Urbahn at Javelin—to turn over the information on the mystery writer.
“If the author is, in fact, a current or former ‘senior official’ in the Trump Administration, publication of the book may violate that official’s legal obligations under one or more nondisclosure agreements,” the note from Assistant US Attorney Joseph Hunt said.
Carol F. Ross, executive vice president and general counsel at Hachette, responded that it is not party to any nondisclosure agreements with the government.
“Hachette has, however, made a commitment of confidentiality to Anonymous and we intend to honor that commitment,” Ross wrote.