GREENBELT, MD – John Bolton pleaded not guilty Friday to charges accusing the former President Donald Trump national security adviser turned critic of emailing classified information to family members and keeping top secret documents at his Maryland home.
Bolton was ordered released from custody after making his appearance before a judge in theΒ third Justice Department case brought in recent weeks against an adversary of the Republican president.
The case accusing Bolton of putting the countryβs national security at risk is unfolding against the backdrop of growing concerns that the Trump administration is using the law enforcement powers of the Justice Department toΒ pursue his political foes. Bolton has signaled he will argue he is being targeted because of his criticism of the president, describing the charges as part of a Trump “effort to intimidate his opponents.β
The investigation into Bolton, however, was already well underway by the time Trump took office a second time this past January and appears to have followed a more conventional path toward indictment than other recent cases against perceived Trump foes, who were charged by the president’s hand-picked U.S. attorney in Virginia over the concerns of career prosecutors.
Bolton is accused of sharing with his wife and daughter more than 1,000 pages of notes that included sensitive information he had gleaned from meetings with other U.S. government officials and foreign leaders or from intelligence briefings. Authorities say some of the information was exposed when operatives believed to be linked to the Iranian government hacked Boltonβs email account he used to send the diary-like notes about his activities to his relatives.
The Justice Department also alleges Bolton stored at his home highly classified intelligence about a foreign adversaryβs plans to attack U.S. forces overseas, covert action taken by the U.S. government and other state secrets.
βThere is one tier of justice for all Americans,β Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement Thursday. βAnyone who abuses a position of power and jeopardizes our national security will be held accountable. No one is above the law.β
Bolton, 76, is a longtime fixture in Republican foreign policy circles who became known for his hawkish views on American power and who served for more than a year in Trumpβs first administration before beingΒ fired in 2019.Β He later published a book highly critical of Trump.
The indictment is significantly more detailed in its allegations than earlier cases against formerΒ FBI Director James ComeyΒ and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Unlike in those cases filed by a hastily appointed U.S. attorney, Boltonβs indictment was signed by career national security prosecutors.
