An 18-count federal grand jury indictment accuses Bolton of illegally transmitting and retaining classified documents \u2014 allegations that appear to cover a period in which Bolton was collecting material for a damning tell-all book about his time in the first Trump administration.<\/p>\n
Bolton has pleaded not guilty to all charges appearing in court today.<\/p>\n
Bolton did not comment to reporters as he entered the courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland, where he made his initial appearance before a judge.<\/p>\n
It is the third criminal case brought in recent weeks by the justice department against a Trump adversary, and is unfolding against the backdrop of growing concerns that the Republican president is using the law enforcement agency to seek retribution against his perceived enemies.<\/p>\n
The veteran diplomat \u2014 who also served as ambassador to the United Nations during the administration of President George W. Bush \u2014 said in a searing statement Thursday night that he has \u201cdevoted my life to America\u2019s foreign policy and national security.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would never compromise those goals. I tried to do that during my tenure in the first Trump Administration but resigned when it became impossible to do so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said the president launched a \u201cretribution campaign\u201d against him, which escalated with the publication of Bolton\u2019s book The Room Where It Happened, and he is now \u201cthe 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,\u201d Bolton said.<\/p>\n
Bolton and his attorney Abbe Lowell argue that the contents of the book were cleared for publication by government officials, and over \u201cfour years of the prior administration, after these reviews, no charges were ever filed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen came Trump 2 who embodies what Joseph Stalin\u2019s head of secret police once said, \u2018You show me the man, and I\u2019ll show you the crime,\u2019\u201d Bolton wrote on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese charges are not just about his focus on me or my diaries, but his intensive effort to intimidate his opponents, to ensure that he alone determines what is said about his conduct,\u201d Bolton added.<\/p>\n
\u201cDissent and disagreement are foundational to America\u2019s constitutional system, and vitally important to our freedom,\u201d he said. \u201cI look forward to the fight to defend my lawful conduct and to expose his abuse of power.\u201d<\/p>\n
The indictment against Bolton marks the third case in as many weeks against a prominent Trump critic, after the president publicly instructed the Department of Justice and Attorney General Pam Bondi to begin politically motivated criminal prosecutions against his enemies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t delay,\u201d Trump wrote on his Truth Social last month.<\/p>\n
After leaving the first Trump administration, from which the president claims Bolton was fired, the veteran diplomat published The Room Where it Happened, a scathing account of the first days of Trump\u2019s presidency, where an \u201cerratic\u201d Trump emerged as a \u201cstunningly uninformed leader,\u201d Bolton wrote.<\/p>\n
But unlike the indictments against former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, which were brought by Trump\u2019s former personal attorney Lindsey Halligan, the case against Bolton is being handled by Maryland U.S. Attorney Kelly Hayes, who was tapped by Trump to lead the office in February.<\/p>\n
Bolton\u2019s home and office were raided by FBI agents this summer.<\/p>\n
The indictment was presented to a grand jury by career prosecutor Tom Sullivan, who also signed the document.<\/p>\n
Bolton faces eight counts of transmitting national defense information and 10 counts of unlawful retention.<\/p>\n
If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison for each count, though it is unlikely a judge would issue a maximum penalty.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is one tier of justice for all Americans,\u201d Bondi said in a statement Thursday. \u201cAnyone who abuses a position of power and jeopardizes our national security will be held accountable. No one is above the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a bad guy,\u201d Trump said from the White House Thursday in response to a question about the indictment, moments after it was filed. \u201cThat\u2019s the way it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An 18-count federal grand jury indictment accuses Bolton of illegally transmitting and retaining classified documents \u2014 allegations that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,13,14,6,11,23,12,15,16,5,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-128896","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-featured-news","11":"tag-featurednews","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-latest-news","14":"tag-latest-news-ticker","15":"tag-latestnews","16":"tag-main-news","17":"tag-mainnews","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-topstories","21":"tag-world","22":"tag-world-news","23":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}