Topline
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton pleaded not guilty Friday to 18 counts of improperly retaining and sharing national defense information, becoming the latest of President Donald Trump’s political enemies to face criminal charges—though the case against Bolton appears to be much more serious than those against Trump’s other foes.
John Bolton leaves federal court after pleading not guilty to charges of mishandling classified material on October 17 in Greenbelt, Maryland.
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Key Facts
Bolton surrendered himself to federal authorities Friday after being indicted Thursday afternoon, appearing in court to plead not guilty to the counts against him in federal court before being released from custody.
The former advisor, who worked for the first Trump administration in 2018 and 2019, was indicted on 18 counts of unlawfully transmitting and retaining national defense information, based on allegations he repeatedly sent documents that contained classified information to two individuals through a non-secure messaging platform, and retained documents including classified information at his Maryland home.
Bolton is the third Trump critic to face criminal charges in recent weeks, coming after former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James were similarly indicted.
Bolton has characterized his indictment as continuing the trend of baseless prosecutions motivated by Trump’s political animus, claiming in a statement Thursday he is the “latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department to charge those [Trump] deems to be his enemies with charges that were declined before or distort the facts.”
While legal experts have broadly criticized the cases against Comey and James, arguing there’s insufficient evidence to justify their indictments and clear signals the cases were politically motivated, both prosecutors and legal experts have taken the charges against Bolton more seriously, suggesting the government has a much stronger case against the former national security advisor.
Unlike the cases against Comey and James, career prosecutors backed the case against Bolton, and the investigation reportedly predates the Trump administration, beginning during Joe Biden’s presidency in 2022.
Why Was John Bolton Charged?
The indictment alleges Bolton corresponded over email and a non-governmental messaging platform with two unnamed individuals throughout his time in the Trump administration. Bolton allegedly repeatedly sent documents to the two people, believed to be family members, that contained “diary entries” thoroughly detailing his activities in the Trump administration, including information that was classified. The indictment alleges Bolton sent information regarding intelligence on former adversaries and covert actions conducted by the U.S. government, among other sensitive information, and suggests Bolton and the recipients knew the messages were not above board. In one instance, Bolton sent a document and followed it up with the message, “None of which we talk about!!!,” to which one of the recipients responded, “Shhhhh.” Some of those messages were later included in a hack of Bolton’s personal email account by a foreign government, believed to be Iran, but prosecutors allege that while Bolton informed the government of the hack in 2021, he did not disclose that the account included classified information. Prosecutors also allege they retrieved documents that included classified information when FBI investigators searched Bolton’s home in August, charging him with 10 counts of retaining national defense information, including intelligence about foreign adversaries, details of U.S. covert operations and intelligence regarding a foreign government using “specific force” against another country.
Why Are James Comey And Letitia James’ Cases Less Serious?
The cases against Comey and James have been widely criticized from the beginning, as reports suggest career prosecutors did not believe there was sufficient evidence to charge either of them with crimes. Both were charged in the Eastern District of Virginia after Trump ousted the district’s previous U.S. attorney, who reportedly did not want to bring charges against Comey or James, and replaced him with Lindsey Halligan, the president’s former personal defense attorney who has no prosecutorial experience. Halligan was the sole prosecutor to sign onto both indictments, signaling lower-ranking prosecutors in the district refused to do so, which legal experts have said is extremely rare. Experts have also taken issue with the merits of the cases against Comey and James, who were charged for allegedly lying to Congress and committing mortgage fraud, respectively. Comey was indicted based on vague allegations that he lied to Congress about never authorizing anyone at the FBI to leak information to the media, but those allegations are contradicted by a previous government investigation. The central witness to the case—a Columbia University professor who’s the purported source of the leaks—has also reportedly told investigators Comey did not authorize him to say anything to the media, which prosecutors believe would be problematic for their case at trial. James was indicted on allegations she unlawfully claimed a property was a second residence instead of a rental property in order to obtain better mortgage terms, but experts have pointed out that she appears to have been lawfully allowed to rent out her property, and the government has not presented clear evidence showing otherwise.
How Is John Bolton’s Case Different?
Unlike the cases against Comey and James, Bolton’s charges were brought by career prosecutors in the District of Maryland, with multiple prosecutors and trial attorneys signing on to the indictment. The investigation into his alleged retention of classified documents reportedly dates back to 2022, after the government became aware of classified information being allegedly contained in his hacked personal emails. Reports prior to his indictment suggested prosecutors have also had more confidence in the charges against Bolton than those against Trump’s other foes. Legal experts have responded to the indictment with less skepticism, acknowledging the seriousness of the charges against Bolton and the apparent evidence the government has to back up its case. “Bolton has bigger problems than Comey and James, based on the evidence laid out in the indictment,” former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance, a frequent Trump critic, wrote Thursday, acknowledging the indictment against Bolton “does appear to be a strong case.”
What Has John Bolton Said?
In a statement after he was indicted, Bolton painted himself as a victim of Trump’s vendetta against him, arguing the president “embodies what Joseph Stalin’s head of secret police once said, ‘You show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime.’” The former national security advisor argued he would “never compromise” his commitment to America’s national security by disseminating classified information, and said he “look[ed] forward to the fight to defend my lawful conduct and to expose [Trump’s] abuse of power.” Bolton’s attorney Abbe Lowell has also denied Bolton did anything wrong, saying in a statement Thursday, “The underlying facts in this case were investigated and resolved years ago,” and claiming the charges are based on “portions” of Bolton’s “personal diaries … that are unclassified, shared only with his immediate family, and known to the FBI as far back as 2021.”
Key Background
Bolton is a Republican national security expert who previously served in multiple government roles during previous presidencies, including as Ambassador to the United Nations, before joining the first Trump administration in 2018. Trump went on to fire Bolton in 2019, and the former advisor has been an outspoken critic of the president ever since, publishing a book in 2020, “The Room Where It Happened,” that included a number of damaging claims about Trump. Bolton alleged the president lacked basic foreign policy knowledge, gave “personal favors to dictators he liked” and told Chinese President Xi Jinping he thought building internment camps for the country’s Uighur population was “exactly the right thing to do,” among other claims, and updated his book ahead of the 2024 election to say Trump is “unfit to be president,” warning, “If his first four years were bad, a second four will be worse.” Trump has long railed against Bolton as a result, and his first administration unsuccessfully sued to block publication of Bolton’s book. The government’s August search of Bolton’s home and office came soon after the former advisor had ramped up his public criticism of how Trump was handling the war in Ukraine, causing Trump to decry Bolton on Truth Social as “really dumb.”