Former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton was charged Thursday with 18 counts of retention and transmission of national defense information, according to unsealed court documents.
Bolton is accused of sharing more than 1,000 pages of information about government activities with relatives in diary-like notes. An attorney for Bolton denied wrongdoing.
The indictment also alleges that the personal email account Bolton used to share the information was hacked by an entity believed to be associated with Iran.
Bolton served for 17 months as national security adviser during President Donald Trump’s first term, clashing with him over Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea before being fired in 2019.
Though the investigation that produced the indictment began before Trump’s second term, the case will unfold against the backdrop of broader concerns that Trump’s Justice Department is being weaponized to go after his political adversaries.
Other news we’re following:
Judge rules federal immigration officers in Chicago must wear body cameras: U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said she was a “little startled” after seeing TV images of federal agents using tear gas and other aggressive tactics against protesters on Chicago streets during immigration operations. Community efforts to oppose U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have ramped up in Chicago, where neighborhood groups have assembled to monitor and film ICE activity.Trump plans to meet Putin in Budapest: Trump says he’ll meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hungary to try to resolve the Russia-Ukraine war, but the date is still to be determined. The U.S. leader revealed the planning meeting after what he described as a lengthy, productive phone call with Putin earlier Thursday. It came a day before Trump’s planned meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on Friday.The CIA is conducting covert operations inside Venezuela: Trump confirmed on Wednesday that he had approved the operations and said he was weighing carrying out land operations in the country. The news comes after the U.S. military in recent weeks has carried out a series of deadly strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean, killing 27 people and destroying at least five boats. Four of those vessels originated from Venezuela.