Former Trump National Security Advisor-turned-top Trump critic John Bolton has been indicted on charges related to improper possession of classified materials.
As reported on Friday’s AM Update, a Maryland grand jury indicted Bolton on 18 counts – eight counts of transmission of national defense information (NDI) and 10 counts of unlawful retention of NDI. Each count carries up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
The FBI searched Bolton’s Maryland home and Washington, D.C., office in August and reportedly seized multiple classified documents. Upon leaving the Trump administration in 2019, Bolton wrote a highly critical book on his former boss titled The Room Where It Happened. The Trump administration unsuccessfully sued at the time to stop publication of that book, alleging it contained classified information. Bolton has maintained the book went through a pre-publication review and was cleared for publishing.
The Indictment
According to the indictment, Bolton allegedly sent classified information during his tenure as NSA to two unidentified family members (believed to be his wife and daughter), who did not have security clearances, via an AOL email account, a Gmail account, and an unspecified messaging app.
The feds say some 1,000 pages of diary notes about his day-to-day activities reflect his knowledge that he was disclosing government secrets, such as, “the intel briefer said” and “while in the situation room, I learned.”
The indictment alleges that, “on a regular basis, Bolton sent diary-like entries to individuals one and two that contained information classified up to top secret level.” One email apparently teased “more stuff coming, none of which we talk about,” prompting the response, “shh,” from individual one.
According to the DOJ, “individual one” created a group chat on a different platform containing Bolton and “individual two” a day before he began serving as national security advisor in 2018. From the indictment: “Individual two asked the group, ‘Why are we using this now? The encryption?’ To which individual one responded, ‘Yup. Why not?’ Bolton then added, ‘For diary in the future!!!'”
The Alleged Hack
Prosecutors also allege Bolton believed a suspected Iranian hacker had gained unauthorized access to his email account after he left the government. A representative for Bolton reported the hack to the feds in July 2021 but did not inform them of the classified information stored in the account. That representative later gave a bizarre update to the FBI, claiming Bolton was taunted by his hacker, who wrote to him on July 25, 2021:
“I do not think you would be interested in the FBI being aware of the leaked content of John’s email (some of which have been attached)… This could be the biggest scandal since [Hillary Clinton’s] emails were leaked, but this time on the GOP side. Contact me before it’s too late…”
Even after the threatening email, the indictment claimed Bolton still didn’t come clean. “At no point did Bolton tell the FBI that while he was the national security advisor, he had used the hacked email account to send individuals one and two documents relating to the national defense, including classified information,” it states. “Nor did he tell the FBI that the hackers now had this information.”
Bolton’s Non-Denial
Critics of President Donald Trump were quick to point out that this is the third recent indictment of one of his perceived political enemies, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. However, The New York Times reported in August that the probe into Bolton “began to pick up momentum during the Biden administration.”
Late Thursday, Bolton issued a statement that began not with a denial, but with a general statement about his character:
“For four decades, I have devoted my life to America’s foreign policy and national security. I would never compromise those goals… Now, I have become the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department to charge those he deems to be his enemies with charges that were declined before or distort the facts.”
Fact check: “These charges were not declined before,” Megyn noted. “The controversy in 2020 was about his book, not his emails, about which the Trump administration was apparently in the dark.”
Bolton went on to note that his book was ultimately approved, adding: “When my email was hacked in 2021, the FBI was made fully aware.” Actually, while the FBI was told that Bolton had been hacked, the DOJ claims Bolton failed to tell the feds that he had been using that hacked email to send classified information.
Bolton ended his statement by describing his conduct as lawful while attacking President Trump, who he said, “embodies what Joseph Stalin’s head of secret police once said, ‘You show me the man and I’ll show you the crime’… These charges are not just about his focus on me or my diaries, but his intensive effort to intimidate his opponents.”
“Notably missing from the Bolton statement,” Megyn asked. “A denial that he kept or forwarded classified material while he was national security advisor.”
What Comes Next
Bolton was arraigned at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland, on Friday. He pleaded not guilty to all 18 counts and was released on his own recognizance. Pre-trial hearings have been scheduled for next month.
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