Former National Security Advisor John Bolton speaks at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, February 17, 2020.
Logan Cyrus/AFP via Getty Images
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Logan Cyrus/AFP via Getty Images
John Bolton, who served as national security adviser during President Trump’s first term before becoming an outspoken critic, was indicted Thursday on 18 counts related to the mishandling of classified materials.
Details of the indictment filed in the District Court of Maryland charge Bolton with eight counts of transmitting national defense information and ten counts of unlawful retention of such information. Each count carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.
In a statement, the Justice Department said Bolton illegally transmitted classified information using personal messaging and email applications, including “U.S. intelligence on future attacks, foreign adversaries, and foreign policy relationships.”
“There is only one level of justice for all Americans,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “Anyone who abuses their position of power and endangers our national security will be held accountable.”
The charges come about two months after the FBI executed a search warrant at the Bolton home in suburban Washington. Court documents say agents recovered documents marked as classified, including references to weapons of mass destruction.
Bolton served for just over a year of Trump’s first term in the White House, but has since become a vocal critic of the president. He said he believed Trump would use the Justice Department to set up a “retaliatory presidency.”
The investigation against Bolton dates back to before Trump returned to power. Bolton’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said the charges in the case were “resolved years ago.” He said the charges came from documents related to Bolton’s personal diaries and never included classified information.
“Like many public officials throughout history, Ambassador Bolton kept a diary – it is not a crime. We look forward to proving once again that Ambassador Bolton did not illegally share or store any information,” Lowell said in a statement.
Bolton was one of the former administration officials whose security clearances Trump stripped when he returned to office. Trump also revoked Bolton’s security detail, which was in place due to threats from Iran.
Bolton published The room where it happened in 2020, a memoir about his time in the White House that criticized Trump’s approach to foreign policy and the presidency in general.
The Trump administration filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block publication of the book, alleging that Bolton did not follow the proper clearance process and that his manuscript contained classified information. A judge denied that request but said Bolton’s conduct raised national security concerns. The Biden administration dismissed the lawsuit, and prosecutors abandoned the grand jury investigation the following year.
The charges against Bolton follow two other recent indictments, including against former FBI Director James Comey, another Trump critic, for one count of making false statements and one count of obstruction of justice in connection with his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee nearly five years ago.
And a grand jury indicted New York Attorney General Letitia James last week on one count of bank fraud and one count of making a false statement to a financial institution. James, a Democrat, vowed to investigate Trump and won a lawsuit against him and his company for inflating the value of some of his properties.
Trump had publicly called on the Justice Department to prosecute James and Comey in a social media post last month; Bolton was not included in this message.
The indictments came after Northern Virginia’s top federal prosecutor questioned the evidence against Comey and James, only to be forced out by the president and replaced by one of Trump’s former defense attorneys.
