Trump Justice Department Secures Criminal Indictment of a Former National Security Advisor, John Bolton
The former national security advisor is now the third Trump adversary to be hit with federal criminal charges in a matter of weeks.
A former Trump national security advisor, John Bolton, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland on 18 counts related to the mishandling of classified materials, making him the latest Trump critic to face federal charges in recent weeks.
Mr. Bolton is accused of unlawfully retaining documents, writings, and notes relating to national defense. This included information classified up to the “TOP SECRET/SCI level,” according to the complaint.
He is also accused of “sharing more than a thousand pages of information about his day-to-day activities as the National Security Advisor-including information relating to the national defense which was classified up to the TOP SECRET/SCI level-with two unauthorized individuals.” One of the individuals, who remained unnamed, is a relative who lives in Mr. Bolton’s home.
Mr. Bolton allegedly used personal AOL and Gmail email accounts to email classified information classified up to two individuals. “At no point did Bolton ave authorization to store or transmit the classified information that he sent to Individuals 1 and 2 via his personal electronic devices and accounts,” according to court papers.
At a White House press conference Thursday afternoon, President Trump responded to the news of Mr. Bolton’s indictment by repeatedly calling him a “bad person” but insisting that he was not following the case.
“I think he’s a bad person,” Mr. Trump said. “That’s the way it goes.”
News of Mr. Bolton’s indictment comes just months after the FBI conducted surprise early-morning raids for classified documents at his home in Bethesda and his Washington office.
Federal agents recovered records from his office labeled “confidential” and “classified” during the August 22 raid, including documents referencing weapons of mass destruction, diplomatic travel memos, and records of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, according to court records.
Mr. Bolton says his 2020 memoir, “The Room Where It Happened,” did not include any classified material. Mr. Bolton’s lawyers also say that he proceeded with the book after a White House National Security Council official reviewed it and confirmed that it did not contain classified information.
Mr. Trump unsuccessfully tried to block the book from publication, accusing Mr. Bolton of including classified information that could compromise national security.
“I’m very confident that there’s nothing in the book that’s classified,” Mr. Bolton, a lifelong diplomat and staunch advocate of the use of force for diplomacy, said during a speaking engagement at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government last month.
The Justice Department has already secured indictments against a former FBI director, James Comey, and Attorney General Letitia James of New York, for making false statements to Congress and bank fraud, respectively.
Mr. Bolton’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, who is also representing Ms.James, said the recovered documents were “cleared for his client’s use.”
“These are the kinds of ordinary records, many of which are 20 years old or more, that would be kept by a 40-year career official,” Mr. Lowell said in a statement.
Recently, the Justice Department was focusing its investigation on Mr. Bolton’s use of an AOL email account to store summaries and notes from his time as Mr. Trump’s security adviser, according to CNN. Investigators were looking into whether any of those notes contained classified information.
Mr. Bolton’s book was a No. 1 New York Times best seller and was one of the most successful Trump tell-alls, selling 780,000 copies in its first week alone. In the book, Mr. Bolton offered a blistering critique of Mr. Trump, describing the president as a gullible figure easily manipulated by flattery from foreign strongmen. The president was said to be particularly irritated that the book made Mr. Bolton significant sums of money.
In recent weeks, former defense attorney for Mr. Trump and the interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan, advanced criminal charges against Mr. Comey and Ms. James after her predecessor, Erik Siebert, was forced out after Mr. Trump objected to the strong support he had from Virginia’s two Democratic senators, who Mr. Trump despises.
ABC News also reported that Mr. Siebert was hesitant to press charges against Ms. James, citing insufficient evidence that a crime had been committed.
This is a developing story.
