A federal grand jury indicted former Trump national security adviser John Bolton on Thursday, becoming the third critic of President Donald Trump to face criminal charges in the last three weeks.
The indictment charges Bolton with eight counts of unlawful transmission of national defense information as well as 10 counts of unlawful retention of national defense information.
“I didn’t know that,” Trump said Thursday at the White House when asked about Bolton’s indictment. “I think he’s a bad guy, yeah, he’s a bad guy. Too bad, but that’s the way it goes.”
Bolton joins two other high-profile Trump critics, former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, in being indicted in recent weeks.
“There is one tier of justice for all Americans,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement after Bolton was charged. “Anyone who abuses a position of power and jeopardizes our national security will be held accountable. No one is above the law.”
FBI Director Kash Patel said Bolton was charged after an FBI investigation found Bolton “allegedly transmitted top secret information using personal online accounts and retained said documents in his house in direct violation of federal law.”
Bolton denied any wrongdoing in a statement and said the indictment was politically motivated.
“Donald Trump’s retribution against me began then [during Trump’s first administration], continued when he tried unsuccessfully to block the publication of my book, The Room Where It Happened, before the 2020 election, and became one of his rallying cries in his re-election campaign,” Bolton said. “Now, I have become the 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.”
Abbe Lowell, Bolton’s lawyer, said his client did not break the law.
“The underlying facts in this case were investigated and resolved years ago. These charges stem from portions of Amb. Bolton’s personal diaries over his 45-year career — records that are unclassified, shared only with his immediate family, and known to the FBI as far back as 2021,” Lowell said in a statement.
“We look forward to proving once again that Amb. Bolton did not unlawfully share or store any information,” he added.
