John Bolton was indicted on Thursday by a federal grand jury on 18 counts of mishandling classified information. President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor got sideways with his boss and wanted to write a book about it. Now he’s on the wrong side of the law.
Court papers allege that Bolton “abused his position as National Security Advisor by sharing more than a thousand pages of information … including information relating to the national defense which was classified up to the TOP SECRET/SCI level.” Furthermore, he “also unlawfully retained documents, writings, and notes relating to the national defense, including information classified up to the TOP SECRET/SCI level, in his home in Montgomery County, Maryland.”
The FBI raided his home in August.
Apparently, mishandling classified information is all the rage in DC. Hillary Clinton did it to keep her pay-to-play scheme between the State Department and the Clinton Foundation buried among all those deleted and thoroughly wiped wedding and yoga emails. She got away with it because James Comey ensured it. Well, she did lose in 2016, which was about all the justice she’ll ever face.
Joe Biden did it, keeping boxes of classified material out in the garage and talking about it with his ghostwriter. He got away with it because a jury would see him as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
Donald Trump and Mike Pence did it, too. Pence basically turned himself in, and that was about the last we ever heard of it.
Trump was indicted, but the case went nowhere, and Special Counsel Jack Smith eventually folded up the circus tents and went home.
So, back to Bolton.
In 2023, Bolton argued that “Trump is … not fit for the job” of president in part because of — you guessed it — his handling of classified information. “It sets a bad example for the thousands of other people in the federal bureaucracy who have security clearances,” Bolton said, “because if the people at the top can be casual about it and then get away with it, that is not a good lesson to teach.”
More specifically, he accused Trump of having committed “very serious crimes,” calling Trump’s indictment “devastating,” and arguing that “it should be the end of Donald Trump’s political career.”
Bolton now faces virtually the same legal trouble — eight charges of transmitting classified information and 10 counts of retaining it. He transmitted it over his AOL email account, which was then hacked by the Iranians.
“But Mr. Bolton disclosed that to the FBI and worked closely with the bureau as it sought to counter the Iranian effort to assassinate Mr. Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,” notes The Wall Street Journal editorial board. “There is no evidence in the indictment that Iran used information in the emails to harm the U.S. Tehran wanted to kill Mr. Bolton, and Mr. Trump pulled his protective detail this year.”
Bolton sees personal retribution coming from Trump.
“My book was reviewed and approved by the appropriate, experienced career clearance officials,” Bolton said in a statement after the indictment. “When my e-mail was hacked in 2021, the FBI was made fully aware. In four years of the prior administration, after these reviews, no charges were ever filed. Then came Trump 2 who embodies what Joseph Stalin’s head of secret police once said, ‘You show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime.’”
After indictments against Trump’s other nemeses, James Comey and Letitia James, Bolton at least has a plausible argument. Would Bolton have been indicted if his book lavished Trump with praise?
Asked about the indictment on Thursday, Trump said, “I didn’t know that. You’re telling me for the first time, but I think he’s a bad person.” Trump may or may not have known about the indictment before that question, but there was no doubt he wanted it. He publicly pushed Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue one.
For better or worse, Trump has decided that Democrats have opened Pandora’s Box, and he is not going to be the only man in Washington ever to be indicted for stuff.
