WASHINGTON: A US judge refused Saturday to block the release of a tell-all book in which President Donald Trump's former national security advisor describes him as corrupt and incompetent.

With John Bolton's book already widely shipped to stores for sale next week, Judge Royce Lamberth wrote that it is too late for a restraining order sought by the Trump administration to halt the process.

The DC district court judge said Bolton appeared to have failed to get written White House agreement that his memoir contained nothing classified, but still refused to hold up the memoir.

"While Bolton's unilateral conduct raises grave national security concerns, the government has not established that an injunction is an appropriate remedy," the judge wrote.

The judge said a review of passages that the government contends contain classified material had persuaded him that Bolton "likely jeopardized national security through publication."