**John Bolton Indicted on Charges Related to Classified Information**
(CNN) — John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser turned adversary, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland on Thursday. Bolton becomes the third high-profile Trump political opponent to be indicted in less than a month.
He now faces eight counts of transmission of national defense information and 10 counts of retention of national defense information. Prosecutors allege that Bolton kept and shared with family members digital diaries detailing his activities, which included a variety of classified material from his time as national security adviser.
According to the indictment, Bolton shared “more than a thousand pages” of “diary-like entries” containing information classified up to the TOP SECRET level.
### Background of the Investigation
The charges come as a result of a criminal investigation that began in 2022 after Bolton’s emails were hacked by Iran. Bolton is expected to surrender to authorities at federal court in Greenbelt as soon as Friday, although no hearing has yet been scheduled.
### Allegations Against Bolton
Prosecutors allege that Bolton would take handwritten notes during his day at the White House and other secure locations, then later rewrite them on his computer. These entries were printed and stored on his personal devices and those of others in his home.
The indictment states that Bolton used personal non-government email accounts, such as AOL and Google, to email classified information to his own personal accounts. Bolton’s notes often described the secure environment in which he obtained the classified information.
Bolton reportedly created a group chat to share these notes, with the stated purpose: “For Diary in the future!!!”
FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement, “The FBI’s investigation revealed that John Bolton allegedly transmitted top secret information using personal online accounts and retained said documents in his house in direct violation of federal law.”
### Evidence from Bolton’s Public Comments
Prosecutors utilized Bolton’s extensive media commentary on the handling of classified information and encrypted communications to show his strong understanding of proper protocols and the consequences of mishandling such information.
In 2017, before serving under Trump, Bolton criticized Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, stating, “if I had done at the State Department what [senior U.S. Government official] did, I’d be [imprisoned] right now.”
### Bolton’s Response: Victim of DOJ “Weaponization”
On Thursday night, Bolton issued a statement calling himself the latest target of former President Trump’s weaponization of the Justice Department.
He asserted that his book, *The Room Where It Happened*, was reviewed and approved by experienced clearance officials, and that the FBI was made aware of his email hack in 2021. Bolton noted that no charges were filed against him during the four years of the Biden administration.
“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,’” Bolton said.
He added, “These 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.”
Bolton emphasized the importance of dissent and disagreement in America’s constitutional system and expressed his readiness to fight to defend his lawful conduct and expose what he calls an abuse of power.
### President Trump’s Reaction
Meanwhile, President Trump was at the White House holding a press event on IVF drug prices when the indictment was filed.
When informed of the indictment, Trump said, “He’s, you know, a bad person. I think he’s a bad guy,” adding, “Yeah, he’s a bad guy, too bad, but that’s the way it goes, right?”
### Investigation Origins and Context
The initial investigation by the Trump Justice Department sought to block Bolton’s 2020 memoir and looked into whether he violated laws by including classified information. That inquiry was closed in 2021.
The current case stems from an Iran hack investigation started in 2021 under the Biden administration. Prosecutors have worked to keep the case insulated from the political tensions surrounding the Justice Department as Trump publicly pressures the prosecution of his political foes, including Bolton.
Unlike cases involving former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, the Bolton case has retained the support of career prosecutors and FBI investigators.
### What’s Next?
According to CNN’s senior legal analyst Elie Honig, the charges against Bolton could be more severe than those in other high-profile cases involving mishandling of classified information, such as those related to Hillary Clinton, Mike Pence, Joe Biden, and Trump.
This is because Bolton is accused of “actively disseminating” highly classified material to family members without security clearance. Additionally, when Bolton’s email was hacked by Iran, he allegedly failed to disclose his use of that account for sharing classified information.
Honig said, “If DOJ can prove this, this is big, big trouble for John Bolton.”
The case has been assigned to US District Judge Theodore Chuang, appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2014.
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*CNN’s Donald Judd and Devan Cole contributed to this report. This story and headline have been updated with additional information.*
https://westfaironline.com/news/cnn-wire-what-to-know-about-the-indictment-of-former-trump-national-security-adviser-john-bolton/
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