US Politics
Grand jury meeting to decide on charges for John Bolton over alleged mishandling of classified docs: report
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A federal grand jury met on Wednesday afternoon to consider criminal charges against President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, according to a report from the New York Post.
Justice Department officials told the Post they’re expecting an indictment against Bolton on Wednesday or Thursday. One official also told the outlet they believe the case against Bolton is “air-tight.”
This comes after the FBI raided Bolton’s home in Bethesda, Maryland, in August in an attempt to locate classified records. Agents also searched his Washington, D.C. office, and said they seized records with classification markings, including documents that referenced weapons of mass destruction and strategic government communications, according to court documents.
A Maryland grand jury has been reportedly hearing evidence for weeks related to claims that Bolton mishandled classified information.
Bolton’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, has maintained his client’s innocence. Lowell told Politico last month that the records gathered by the FBI were decades old, and some had even been cleared for use in Bolton’s book. Lowell described them as “ordinary records” expected to be kept by a 40-year career official who served in multiple high-level roles.
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“Specifically, the documents with classification markings from the period 1998-2006 date back to Amb. Bolton’s time in the George W. Bush Administration,” Lowell added. “An objective and thorough review will show nothing inappropriate was stored or kept by Amb. Bolton.”
Bolton formerly served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under former President George W. Bush. He’s also held several roles across the Justice Department and State Department.
Part of the investigation has focused on allegations that Bolton made notes to himself on a private AOL email account about his activities while serving as national security adviser, CNN reported Tuesday. Officials are reportedly investigating whether those messages contained classified information.
An affidavit for probable cause used by the FBI to support their raid includes a redacted section titled “Hack of Bolton’s AOL Account by a Foreign Entity.” The section details how U.S. government officials had found Bolton’s AOL emails during intelligence collection directed at an unnamed nation, MSNBC reported last week, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
Trump said he fired Bolton in September 2019, but Bolton claimed he offered to resign. In the days leading up to the announcement, Bolton had been urging Trump to not sign a peace agreement with the Taliban, according to The New York Times. Trump didn’t sign the deal, but was reportedly frustrated with media reports about Bolton’s opposition.
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Ever since, the former national security adviser has been an outspoken critic of the president. In 2020, he published The Room Where it Happened: A White House Memoir, a scathing account of his experience working under Trump. The president “saw conspiracies behind rocks, and remained stunningly uninformed on how to run the White House, let alone the huge federal government,” Bolton wrote in the book.
Bolton went on to warn that Trump was “unfit” for the White House in January 2024, as his reelection campaign was underway. When Trump took office again in January, he revoked security from Bolton and several other former U.S. officials.
These allegations come after Trump instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi, via a Truth Social post, to prosecute his perceived political enemies, making apparent references to ex-FBI Director James Comey, Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
“Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, ‘same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam “Shifty” Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done,’” Trump wrote last month.
The message was reportedly intended to be a private message to Bondi, and Trump was surprised to learn it was public.
Comey was charged last month with making false statements and obstruction, stemming from his testimony to the Senate in 2020 that he did not authorize leaks to reporters. He has pleaded not guilty.
Meanwhile, James was charged last week with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution in connection with a loan for a property she purchased five years ago. James called the charges “baseless.”
The Independent has contacted Bolton’s attorney and the Justice Department for comment.
