John Bolton, a former national security adviser turned vocal critic of President Donald Trump, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland on eight counts of transmission of national defense information and 10 counts of unlawful retention of national defense information.
According to the indictment, from April 2018 to September 2019, Bolton shared over 1,000 pages of “information about his day-to-day activities” as national security adviser in “diary-like entries” with two members of his family; reportedly, according to CNN, Bolton’s wife and daughter. Some of the entries allegedly included top-secret information.
Commenting on the charges against his former national security adviser from the Oval Office on Thursday, President Donald Trump remarked, “I didn’t know that. I think he’s a bad person. I think he’s a bad guy, yeah. Bad guy. Too bad, but that’s the way it goes.”
Bolton has denied any wrongdoing. Abbe Lowell, Bolton’s attorney, told HuffPost on Thursday that the “underlying facts in this case were investigated and resolved years ago.”
“These charges stem from portions of Ambassador 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. Like many public officials throughout history, Amb. Bolton kept diaries – that is not a crime. We look forward to proving once again that Amb. Bolton did not unlawfully share or store any information,” Lowell said.
