GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — Former Trump administration national security adviser john bolton He was indicted Thursday in a federal investigation into possible mishandling of classified information, sources told The Associated Press.
Bolton has been under investigation since he took office after serving more than a year in President Donald Trump’s first administration. fired in 2019when he suddenly appeared in public in August. FBI searched His Maryland home and Washington office contained confidential records he may have kept while in government.
The existence of the indictment was confirmed to The Associated Press by a person familiar with the matter, who could not discuss the charges publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
During the August search, investigators seized multiple documents from Bolton’s office labeled “confidential,” “confidential,” and “confidential,” according to previously unsealed court filings. Some of the records seized appeared to be related to weapons of mass destruction, national “strategic communications” and the U.S. mission to the United Nations, the filing said.
The indictment sets the stage for a high-profile courtroom centered on a longtime figure in Republican foreign policy circles known for his hawkish views on American power and who has emerged as a prominent and vocal critic of the president since leaving the first Trump administration. The investigation that led to the indictment began before President Trump’s second term, but the case will unfold against a backdrop of widespread concerns about corruption in Trump’s Justice Department. be weaponized to go after his political opponents.
After being indicted on a separate matter last month, former FBI Director James Comey for lying to Congress; New York Attorney General Letitia James Both men deny charges of committing bank fraud and making false statements. Both of these lawsuits were filed in federal court in Virginia by prosecutors rushed into office by President Trump, frustrated by the failure of investigations into his archenemies to lead to prosecutions.
In contrast, the Bolton case was brought in Maryland by a U.S. attorney who worked as a career prosecutor before his promotion.
Questions about Bolton’s handling of classified information go back several years. he faced Lawsuit and Department of Justice investigation Trump resigned over an intelligence incident in which he portrayed Trump as completely clueless about foreign policy in his 2020 book, The Room Where it Happened.
The Trump administration claimed that Bolton’s manuscript contained classified information that could compromise national security if revealed. Mr. Bolton’s lawyers said he moved forward with the manuscript after a White House National Security Council official, with whom he had worked for several months, said the manuscript no longer contained classified information.
A National Security Council official reviewed the book’s manuscript and told Bolton in 2020 that it appeared to contain a “substantial amount” of classified information, some of it classified, according to a previously unsealed search warrant affidavit.
Mr Bolton’s lawyer, Abby Rowell, said many of the documents seized in August had been approved as part of a pre-publication review of Mr Bolton’s book. He said many of the names date back decades, given Bolton’s long career as an assistant attorney general at the State Department and as ambassador to the United Nations.
The indictment marks a dramatic moment in Bolton’s long career in government. He served at the Department of Justice under President Ronald Reagan and was the State Department’s focal point on arms control during President George W. Bush. Mr. Bolton was nominated by President Bush to be the United States’ ambassador to the United Nations, but Mr. Bolton, a strong supporter of the Iraq war, failed to win Senate confirmation and resigned after serving 17 months as President Bush’s recess appointment. This allowed him to temporarily hold the position without Senate confirmation.
Bolton was appointed as President Trump’s third national security adviser in 2018. But his brief tenure was marked by disputes with the president over North Korea, Iran and Ukraine.
The rift ultimately led to Bolton’s resignation, and Trump announced on social media in September 2019 that he had accepted Bolton’s resignation. Bolton later criticized President Trump’s foreign policy and approach to government in a 2020 book, alleging that Trump directly linked the provision of military aid to the country’s intention to investigate Joe Biden, Trump’s soon-to-be 2020 Democratic presidential rival, and his family.
President Trump slammed Bolton as a “washed man” and a “crazy” warmonger who would have led the country into “World War VI.” Trump also said at the time that the book contained “top secret information” and that Bolton “did not have approval” for its publication.
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Tucker and Durkin Richer reported from Washington.
