The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has warned the senior Trump administration official who is about to publish an exposé of the current presidency that the book may violate the official’s legal obligations under one or more non-disclosure agreements.

Due out on 19 November, A Warning was written anonymously by the senior official who wrote the opinion piece I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration for the New York Times last year. Publisher Little, Brown, a subsidiary of the Hachette Group, said the book picks up “from where those first words of warning left off”.

According to a letter obtained by CNN, the DoJ has told the author’s publishers and agent that “if the author is, in fact, a current or former ‘senior official’ in the Trump administration”, publication could violate routine agreements about information obtained while working for the US government. Assistant attorney general Joseph H Hunt said: “Such agreements typically require that any written work potentially containing protected information be submitted for pre-publication review.”

Hachette’s lawyer Carol Ross has responded, according to CNN, saying that it intends to go ahead with publication of the “important book” and that it is not party to any non-disclosure agreements with the US government that would require any pre-publication review.

“Hachette has, however, made a commitment of confidentiality to Anonymous and we intend to honour that commitment. Please be assured that Hachette takes its legal responsibilities seriously and … respectfully declines to provide you with the information your letter seeks,” writes Ross.

Anonymous’s literary agency Javelin said that it supports Hachette “in its resolve that the administration’s effort to intimidate and expose the senior official who has seen misconduct at the highest levels will not prevent this book from moving forward.

“Our author knows that the president is determined to unmask whistleblowers who may be in his midst. That’s one of the reasons A Warning was written,” said Javelin.

Little, Brown said that the author did not take an advance for A Warning, and that if there are royalties, they plan on donating them substantially to non-profit organisations that focus on government accountability and on supporting “those who stand up for the truth in repressive countries around the world”.