Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
John bolt on He is expected to surrender to authorities on Friday and make his first court appearance on charges that accuse the former trump The administration’s national security adviser stored top secret records at home and shared diary-like notes with relatives that contained classified information.
The 18-count federal indictment filed Thursday also reveals that classified information was exposed when operatives believed to be affiliated with the Iranian government hacked Bolton’s email account and gained access to sensitive material he shared. Prosecutors say a representative of Bolton told the FBI in 2021 that his emails were hacked, but did not say whether Bolton shared classified information through the account or whether the hackers had access to government secrets.
The closely watched case centers on a longtime figure in Republican foreign policy circles who is known for his radical views on American power and who served for more than a year in Trump’s first administration before being fired in 2019. He later published a book highly critical of Trump.
The third case against a Trump rival in the past month will come against a backdrop of those concerns Justice Department The Republican is pursuing the president’s political enemies while simultaneously shielding his allies from investigation.
“Now, I have become the latest target of the Justice Department’s efforts to weaponize those it considers its enemies by accusing those it considers its enemies of having previously denied or distorted the facts,” Bolton said in a statement.
Nevertheless, the indictment is significantly more detailed in its allegations than the earlier cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Unlike cases filed by hastily appointed US attorneys, Bolton’s indictment was signed by career national security prosecutors. While the investigation into Bolton came to public attention in August when the FBI searched his home and his office in Maryland WashingtonThe investigation was well underway when Trump took office in January.
sharing classified secrets
The indictment, filed in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, alleges that between 2018 and last August, Bolton shared more than 1,000 pages of information about his day-to-day activities in government with two relatives.
According to the indictment, the material included “diary-like” entries detailing classified top secret information he learned from meetings with other US government officials, intelligence briefings or conversations with foreign leaders. After sending one document, Bolton wrote in a message to his relatives, “None of whom we speak to!!!” In response, prosecutors said, a relative wrote, “Sssssssssssssss up.”
The indictment said the material shared contained information about foreign adversaries, which in some cases revealed details about the sources and methods the government used to gather intelligence.
The two family members were not identified in court papers, but a person familiar with the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss non-public details, identified them as Bolton’s wife and daughter.
The indictment also suggests that Bolton was aware of the impropriety of sharing classified information with people who were not authorized to receive it, citing an April news media interview in which he chastised Trump administration officials for using Signal to discuss sensitive military details. While this anecdote is meant for prosecutors to show that Bolton understands proper protocol for government secrets, Bolton’s legal team may also point to it to argue a double standard in enforcement since the Justice Department is not known to open any investigations into the Signal affair.
Bolton’s lawyer, abe lowellIt said in a statement that “the underlying facts of this case were investigated and resolved years ago.”
He said the allegations stem from excerpts from Bolton’s personal diaries during his 45-year career in government and include unclassified information that was shared only with his immediate family and was known to the FBI only until 2021.
“Like many public officials throughout history,” Lovell said, “Bolton kept diaries – that’s not a crime.” He said Bolton “did not share or store any information unlawfully.”
controversy over a book
Bolton suggested that the criminal case was the result of an unsuccessful effort by the Justice Department after he left the government to prevent the publication of his 2020 book, “The Room Where It Happened,” which described Trump as grossly misinformed about foreign policy.
The Trump administration claimed that Bolton’s manuscript contained classified information that could harm national security if exposed. Bolton’s lawyers have said he moved forward with the book after a White House National Security Council official, with whom Bolton had worked for months, said the manuscript no longer contained classified information.
In 2018, Bolton was appointed as Trump’s third national security advisor. His brief tenure was filled with disputes with the President over North Korea, Iran and Ukraine. Ultimately those rifts led to Bolton’s departure.
Bolton later criticized Trump’s approach to foreign policy and government in his book, including the allegation that Trump’s provision of military aid to Ukraine was directly linked to that country’s desire to investigate Joe Biden, soon to be Trump’s Democratic 2020 election opponent, and Biden’s family members.
Trump called Bolton a “deceived man” and a “crazy” war supporter who would lead the country into “World War Six.”