John Bolton, President Trump’s former national security advisor, is now counted among his enemiesconvicted on thursdayOn allegations he shared and stored classified information.
Federal prosecutors say Bolton sent more than a thousand pages of “diary-like entries” to two relatives and retained documents, articles and notes related to national defense.
The 26-page indictment was handed up by a grand jury Thursday afternoon in federal court in Greenbelt, Md.
In a statement after the charges were filed, Bolton claimed to be the target of Trump’s vendetta campaign against his alleged political enemies.
Here are five takeaways:
Bolton’s 18 charges sent to Obama-appointed judge
Bolton faces a total of 18 charges: eight counts of disseminating national defense information and 10 counts of retaining national defense information.
Each count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, although Bolton is a first-time offender and could face a lesser sentence if convicted.
It will be up to U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang, who was randomly appointed by former President Obama, to oversee the trial proceedings.
Chuang has overseen numerous legal challenges to key parts of Trump’s second term agenda.
Chuang sided with a group in FebruaryQuaker, Baptist and Sikh organizationsIn their challenge to the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts at places of worship.
This spring, Chuang ruled that Elon Musk waspossibly illegal fragmentationHe headed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for federal aid programs. rulingimpeachedCall from Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.)
But in July, he refused a group’s effort to block the Trump administration from revoking the temporary legal status it grantedThousands of citizens from AfghanistanAnd Cameroon. Chuang also declined to immediately dismiss the suit, and it is pending.
Diary entries at the center of the case
The case against Bolton centers on hundreds of “diary-like” pages he sent to two relatives about his day-to-day activities as national security adviser.
Prosecutors say he “abused his position” by sharing information classified as top secret related to national defense, including keeping documents, articles and notes in his home, including top-secret details.
The indictment says the two relatives never had U.S. security clearances and were not authorized to view information Bolton shared with them through commercial messaging apps and personal email accounts.
“At no point did Bolton have the authority to store or transmit the classified information sent to Individuals 1 and 2 through their personal electronic devices and accounts,” charging papers read. “Nor, at any time, did Individuals 1 and 2 have the authority to know or store the classified information that Bolton gave them.”
Prosecutors also alleged that Bolton had printed and stored “numerous” entries at some point before the FBI raid of his home in August. He also reportedly stored numerous entries on personal electronic devices.
The indictment says that after leaving the Trump administration, Bolton was told in September 2019 that he could no longer store classified information at his home.
In July 2021, a representative of Bolton informed the FBI that one of his personal accounts was believed to have been hacked by Iran. However, the representative did not alert the FBI that the hacked account stored classified and national defense information that Bolton allegedly maintained, to which the apparent hacker had gained access, the indictment says.
How did the grand jury arise?
The grand jury met behind closed doors at the Maryland Courthouse Thursday afternoon. The building was otherwise quiet, except for the sentencing hearing going on down the hall.
Just after 3:30 pm ET, the grand jurors had completed their work and were seen exiting.
As most of the people left, the leading man was left behind. Moments later, she joined prosecutors in moving to the on-duty magistrate judge’s courtroom one floor above.
They went inside and waited for a few minutes for the judge to arrive. The main man sat at the defense table, while five prosecutors were crammed into the prosecution table.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Gina Sims took the bench, and the chief was asked to confirm that he had indeed voted to return the indictment at hand.
“Yes,” answered the chief, a middle-aged black woman who wore tortoiseshell glasses.
Federal rules require a grand jury to consist of 16 to 23 members, and 12 must agree there is probable cause to bring charges.
The chief walked to the front of the room and handed him a document held together with a binder clip. The judge wished him good afternoon, dismissed him and turned to the prosecutors.
Thomas Sullivan, the lead prosecutor in the case, handed the judge a red folder containing documents. He did not say what they were, and the judge reviewed them silently.
After this the judge adjourned the hearing. The proceedings lasted only five minutes.
As Sullivan left the courthouse, he declined to comment to reporters, saying only, “Stay still.”
Bolton: ‘I have become the latest target’
After the charges were announced, Bolton said in a statement that he saw himself as the “latest target” of Trump’s vendetta campaign against his perceived political enemies.
His indictment marked the third of Trump’s longtime foes to be charged by the Justice Department in recent weeks.
Bolton said he has dedicated his life to America’s foreign policy and national security and will “never compromise those goals”, arguing that he resigned from Trump’s first administration when it became “impossible” to do so.
The former national security adviser claimed that’s when Trump’s vendetta against him began and that it continued when he sought to publish his memoir, “The Room Where It Happened,” over which the administration spent years feuding with him.
Bolton said, “Now, I have become the latest target for weaponizing the Justice Department to accuse those it considers its enemies of having previously denied or distorted the facts.”
Bolton said Trump’s second administration embodies the secret police tactics of Soviet Union dictator Joseph Stalin: “You show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime.”
The allegations, he said, are an extension of Trump’s efforts to intimidate his opponents into keeping quiet about his conduct.
“Disagreement and disagreement are fundamental to America’s constitutional order and vitally important to our freedoms,” Bolton said. “I look forward to the fight to defend our lawful conduct and expose abuses of power.”
Bolton’s attorney, Abbey Lovell, said in a statement after the charges were filed that the facts underlying the case were investigated and resolved “years ago,” adding that keeping a diary, as many public officials have done throughout history, “is not a crime.”
Lowell, a longtime Washington lawyer, is also representing New York Attorney General Letitia James in her federal criminal case and Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook in her legal challenge against Trump’s effort to fire her.
Retaliation campaign or not?
Although Bolton is the latest Trump critic to face charges, his case bears a notable difference from those of other opponents of the president.
Former FBI Director James Comey was the first Trump foe to be charged by a federal prosecutor in Virginia with allegedly making false statements during 2020 congressional testimony. He has pleaded innocent and vowed to pursue claims of vindictive prosecution.
New York Attorney General Letitia James was convicted in the same court last week of bank fraud charges involving a property she bought in Norfolk, Virginia. She will make her first court appearance next week and has denied wrongdoing.
Comey and James were both indicted by Trump’s former personal attorney Lindsey Halligan, whom he recently tapped to become interim U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Halligan was selected for the role after Eric Siebert, the former U.S. attorney for the district, resigned amid pressure to convict Comey after determining that there was not enough evidence to do so.
Comey plans to challenge the legality of Halligan’s appointment, and while James has not indicated whether she intends to take a similar approach, she accused Halligan in a statement following his impeachment of being someone who is “blindly loyal not to the law, but to the President.”
However, no such claim could be made in Bolton’s case. He was convicted in Greenbelt, Md., where prosecutors are led by U.S. Attorney Kelly Hayes, who is in the role permanently.
Additionally, the case against Bolton was presented to the grand jury by Thomas Sullivan, head of the Maryland office’s national security section. Four prosecutors joined him before a magistrate judge when the indictment was handed up on Thursday.
In the cases of Comey and James, Halligan sought to impeach him, with prosecutors from outside his Virginia district having since joined the case against Comey.
