Trump Reacts to Bolton Indictment: 'I Think He's a Bad Person' (Q&A)

The US Justice Department has charged John Bolton, a former national security adviser to President Donald Trump who became one of his fiercest critics, according to a person familiar with the matter. Bolton was indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland for his handling of classified documents, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing the charges, which haven’t been made public.

Bolton is the latest of Trump’s perceived enemies to face charges. Bolton has previously denied mishandling classified information. When asked by reporters in the White House Oval Office, President Trump said it was the first he was hearing about it, but that he thinks Bolton is "a bad person."

Discussing Terms

Between April 2018 and September 2019, Bolton allegedly “sent diary-like entries” to two unnamed individuals — who were identified as being related to Bolton — that contained top secret information, according to the indictment. Bolton sent some of the information using his personal email accounts, such as those hosted by AOL and Google, prosecutors said.

Information that Bolton allegedly mishandled included details about covert action plans and pending attacks, human intelligence gathered using sensitive sources and methods, and intelligence on an adversary’s leaders, according to the indictment.

Trump told reporters on Thursday that he hadn’t reviewed the case against Bolton, but described his former adviser as “a bad person.”

Bolton allegedly used a group chat to send some messages. According to the indictment, one of the unnamed individuals asked why they were using a group chat. Bolton replied: “For Diary in the future!!!”

FBI agents searched Bolton’s home and Washington office in August. They found items marked as classified, secret and confidential during the office search, according to an earlier court filing.

Trump has called for retribution against some of his fiercest critics. But the allegations against Bolton differ in breadth from recent charges against former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Comey was indicted for allegedly lying to lawmakers, while James is accused of violations related to alleged mortgage fraud. Both Comey and James have denied the allegations and said they will fight them in court.

Documents Collected

A description of the documents collected during the search of Bolton’s office indicated they contained information about weapons of mass destruction, the US mission to the United Nations and plans for government strategic communications, according to the filing. Bolton served as US ambassador to the UN under former President George W. Bush.

“An objective and thorough review will show nothing inappropriate was stored or kept by Ambassador Bolton,” defense lawyer Lowell said after the classified documents were found at his office. “These materials, many of which are documents that had been previously approved as part of a pre-publication review for Ambassador Bolton’s book, were reviewed and closed years ago.”

The case is US v. Bolton, 25-cr-314, US District Court, District of Maryland (Greenbelt).

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