John Bolton

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration sued former national security adviser John Bolton on Tuesday to delay the publication of a book that the White House says contains classified information and that is expected to paint an unfavorable portrait of the president’s foreign policy decision-making.

The civil lawsuit in Washington’s federal court follows warnings from President Donald Trump that Bolton could face a “criminal problem” if he doesn’t halt plans to publish the book, which is scheduled for release next week.

The complaint is the latest salvo in a contentious relationship between Trump and the hawkish Bolton, who was ousted from the White House last September after repeated disagreements on national security matters. Now a judge will be asked to decide whether Bolton short-circuited proper procedures to get his book on the market — something his lawyer and publisher have strongly denied.

His publisher, Simon & Schuster, called 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.”

The publisher said in a statement Tuesday that Bolton had worked with White House officials to address their concerns and that it “fully supports his First Amendment right” to tell his story.

Bolton’s attorney, Chuck Cooper, has accused the White House of using national security information as a pretext to censor Bolton.