John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser and one of his critics, resigned today, October 17, after the United States Department of Justice indicted him on charges of mishandling classified information during and after his time in the Trump administration. John Bolton was indicted a day earlier.
The Department of Justice, led by US Attorney General Pam Bondi, sought to accuse John Bolton of mishandling classified documents. Hours later, the former NSA was indicted on 18 federal counts, eight of which involved the transmission and ten of which involved retention of national defense information.
The indictment follows the release of court documents last month that revealed John Bolton was under federal investigation for possible mishandling of classified information.
John Bolton was seen arriving at the courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland to surrender. He is expected to appear in court later in the day. A day earlier, John Bolton said in a statement that he looked forward to fighting his behavior during his time at the NSA.
“I look forward to fighting to defend my lawful conduct and to expose (Trump’s) abuse of power,” Bolton said in a statement, adding: “I have now become the latest target in arming the Justice Department to indict those it considers its enemies on charges that have previously been dismissed or misrepresented.”
John Bolton said through his lawyer that he did not illegally retain or share any classified information.
What are the charges against John Bolton?
- FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement that the investigation revealed that “John Bolton allegedly transmitted highly classified information using personal online accounts and kept said documents at his home in direct violation of federal law.”
- The indictment alleges that Bolton illegally transmitted National Defense Information (NDI) by using personal email and messaging app accounts to send sensitive documents classified as top secret.
- The documents contained information about potential attacks, foreign adversaries and international relations.
- The indictment also alleges that Bolton illegally kept NDI documents at his home, the Justice Department said.
- These documents included intelligence on adversary leaders as well as information revealing sources and collections used to obtain statements about a foreign adversary.
Prior to her accusation, Pam Bondi stressed that “no one is above the law” and anyone who abuses their position will be held accountable.
“There is one level of justice for all Americans,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Anyone who abuses a position of power and threatens our national security will be held accountable. No one is above the law.”
